The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-04
,,,puBIrIEs II BEER
Facts About the Character OF
Some the Liquor Drunk

4 Roman tue I hen inseparably attached to
where NV honor Some want 1t as
breWed NJ &C. ale and still others as porter;
stout, OK i;forenca is Ii tle-they are all beer.
but tue .'- country into which beer has oeen
q In ever II has become the national bev-
nuO mil now it is the favorile az l, I'm III
enTaELo-tborn and temperate parts OF EUROPE
d. Asia Even IN Paris, where VINE ", N anu
ssbsintbe are supposed 10 holu nun
sus--i y consumed to an enormous extent
z: beeF j Co-'0 home. Allegheny county con
Co ~ AMIR ximately, l5,OO0O QUO gaIonso OF
sulleI i,,r ~r the wear ending June 80, 1883.
2 Tgda 6gnTes represent about 80 gallons Tor
Iues9 woman and child in the county.
PERTINENT QUESTION.
D-.,, considering tnIs enormous ana UNI
Il rso If beer, and in view or the 1act
Il N ven AL, an enormously greater than
H. amount of this beverage has peeA
us 'u@r recently, the quality OF beer
80 manufactured is matter OF lnpor-
.onc9 Slme lnvest.g atoms into It's purity,
tbsn NAV be interesting and Timely. AN
tnsn It t'''f for imruritie, of fifteen samples
aad ESn a. II il furnished e. the Pi tsburg
Il oars,,nar nv brewers, within and without
tSa conntv gives the following results;
cad pre,ent in three samples
ar.anic present In two samples.
CoccnIn, i2dicus (picrotoxln) present in
five samples. ,,..
Strrchjue present in no samples.
Picric acid present in no samples.
Tobacco pre- ent in no samples.
Oniun present in no samples
Bact ria liviDg) present IN no sample
M tine three brands of beer containing
lad one vas of bottle and two of tapped
%aer How the metal came to be present
~ tho bottled article can only be conjec-
rod lproba " it was from artificial
,i,c, Ga used as an iulteranD, but it is
9niie certain that the presence of lead in
Ne tanned beer was owing to the fact that
+be bear was conveyed from the barrel in
: q cellar 10 the faucet in the barroom by a
iesd nine of about % feet in length in tire one
instance, aud 35 in the other The free
aci S. acetic, Tactic and carbonlc, IN the
bee~ co verted the metallic lead into
solnhe salts which were dissolved and
carried along by the beer flowing through
the pipes
THE DANGER OF LEAD PIPES.
Dr. Hav, the well-knowu chemist, some
time ago pointed out the danger OF using
lead PIPE for this purpose, and recon-
mended that a pipe of iron, lined with an
enamel free from lead, be used instead. 1t
NAV be mentioned that the samples of
tapped beer which contained lead were OBJ
tained when we had more than 93 saloons
Ill the city-a time when beer had more
opportunity to stand in the pipes than it has
now. 1t is true that the quantity in one
So would be small, but, as IS well known
to medical science, lead. like all metals,
tends to accumulate in the system, and, nc
matter how small the dose, it will eyentu-
ally produce chronic lead poisoning. Ply
sicians are constantly meeting with cases
where this fo-m of poisoning can be dag
nostica ed, but where it is very difficult
matter to ascertain the source of the lead.
Until pipes ma of material other than
lead are used for tapping, beer must come
in for share OF the blame in these cases, if
the patient is a beer drinker A probes
sloual friend of mine had two patients,
both barkeepers Though in different sa-
LOOMS who were suffering with chro aic lead
poisoning. Thesource of the lead in both in
stances, my friend and ] agreed, and anal
yss showed, was the lead tap pipe. A sam
pie from each Of these saloons is included
in the table aoove and constitute two OF the
three instances in which
LEAD WAS FOUND.
In both C. ses, no lead was. detected in
beer taken directly from the barrels. As
soon as the matter was brought to the
notice OF the propriet0rs of the respective
saloons, they Immediately made arrange
ments to have the beer barrels placed in
the barroom and tapped directly with a
spggot, without the intervention of COM
pressed air and lead pipe o. pipe of any
Klnd; and, though the two tartenders CON
unued to drink beer as before, the symp-
toms OF lead poisoning all subsidized.
now the arsenic found in two samples
9oV lhto the beer is matter very easy of
explanation. In order to increase the
ProhtS, the INSCRIPTIONS brewers of these
peers had used artificial glucose in the
manufacture. This subst tuition would be
na t mess ana Justltiable, perhaps, were 1t
uoV lor tue fact that in the artificial CONVEX
SION OF starch ito glucose, sulphuric acid
Is used. Now commercial sulphuric acid al
tlo'V invariably contai.s a. senic Whence
ARSENIC IN THE BEER.
True, this poisonous metal WAS NOT
a aLIi III very great quantity, and prob
"piy would ect as tonic and increase tho
uupos OF the man who drinks four or
I've h.e glasses daily of the beer containing it !;
euo "IaC Oh The man who drinks fifteen or
o"oni1y glasses or more day! Ii he drink S
1ynllhualiy Of that one brand of beer he
s s,uSC Inevitably suffer from chronic ar
e eSHio'i poisoning. This is no gauzy hypoth-
V'aS, IL mas occurred within the writer's
NAiNNItNISG.
is lcrotoxlA was found in five samples. 1t
80 ino POISONOUS active principle of cocculus
o alutus, the fruit of which was used to
o5oe the beer for the purpose of
cn,giaply Increasing it's bitterness and intoxi-
~ s'bLae eHects, with a corresponding saving
VI nops and OF malt.
CHEAP ADULTERANT
IL takes but very little cocculouS ;ndicus
an a use great amount of bitterness, into
one. t-,.I nous quantity of beer, and as but
seva r'e t;e1h u a grain, when repeated
10 lime, .llhes at short intervals. IS sufficient
drrga 0G ~ The intoxicating effects of the
teroen'+ II is seen that it makes a cheap adul-
in d.. solution containing the picrot x
iec,oJ 'G thed from a sample of beer was in
wiz - uypodermically Into guinea MIG
kno we TesHlt of literally tying him up ia
loved "iVu thN tetanic spasms. Death fol-
pbvs,o,n u ut time. This is called the
tb6nob srai 1t fol- plcrotoxin. and.
Co So. a little ha~a N the guinea M is
cal tas .,'aVqfy of the accuracy of the c1emi-
ton a. IL IS possible that the intoxica-
may have ~ part to the picrotoxin in beer
Of vi"io ao something to do with many acts
under tba winch might not be committed
Fbe o o4s ' influence Of alcohol alone.
picrotorIliiSctS OF the long-continued use Of
systen, 21 IN are mo disastrous 49, rsr uons
enc, bat,shg ch'ely aff>1oed Tia differ
contsi|;""eeH drA xine puus .,eeS ard one
e1ual ;as plcl o'o6in j. other things heino
tie man Piy Year, -aKen from the life Of
uct. " no or-aks the adulterated prod.