The sun., 1899-02-19

| "Cloister beer" was mnde from oats wheat
rye or barley. accordingly as one or another
was abundant. the Church tithes being paid In
grain. The Bishop Of Constance. II Is recorded,
| in the year p15 showed the imperial ambassa-
dor malt kiln designed to hold 400 bushels OF
! oats In the clolster at st. Gallen beer was
| brewed from oats. In the thirteenth century
| the Nuremberg authorities forbade the use OF
! oats. rye and wheat, permitting only barley
| while in 1893. two centuries later. the Common
Council Of Augsburg forbade the use OF any
grain but oats In brewing.
When strong beers were In popular favor
brewers used only barley malt, but for a long
time the demand has been for mild beers OF
light color. In a barlcymalt beer the propor-
tion OF albuminous matters ls 80 large that un-
less the beer Ia strongly alcoholic. or made with
largo quantity Of hops. secondary fermenta-
ton is quite likely to debase the beer. To re-
duce the proportion OF unstable albumnolds,
the chemist has found tho value Of the use OF
unmated grains with the barley malt I'M
matted grains are practically free from solu-
BILE abuminoids. The experiments OF DR..
Francis Wyatt, the technical chemist. show
that in becr made fran barley malt
there Is per cent OF alcohol. per
cent. OF sugar and gum, and l per cent. OF
albumnoids in solution while in a beer made
from three parts OF malt to one of cornmeal the
the proportion OF ahumlnods to n half OF per
cent. while the proportion OF gum and sugar s
increased 10 81 per cent. This corn beer"
having fewer of nltrogenous ingredients. is not
such a tissue maker as the more intoxicating
barley beer:" hut few food experts contend
that beer Is drunk for ntroEenoids. The
Engishman. who drinks mug OF ale with his
chops. seeks for the heot-producing carbohy-
drates in the ale and the tissue making albu-
minoids in the meat.
That glucose isn't n deadly poison seems now
TO he known generally. but the illusion about
glucose dies slow death. 1t Is now nearly
twenty years since the National Academy OF
Sciences at the request of tho Treasury De-
partmcnt. made an investigation of glucose.
From such eminent chemists as Prof. Barker OF
the University OF Pennsylvania. Prof Brewer
of Yale. Prof Chandler OF Colum bia. Prof. Gibbs
OF Harvard and Prof Remsen Of Johns Hop
kins came the opinion that thought having
at best only about two-thirds the swcctcning
power OF cane sugar. yet starch sugar is in no
way inferior to cane sugar in healthfulness.
there being no evidence before the COM
mittee that maize starch sugar. either in its
normal condition or fermented. has any dele
terious effect upon the system. even when taken
in large quantities" Any amount Of glucose
will not make a beer unhealthy. but the sub
stituton o. a large quantity OF glucose for
barley-malt results in 4 beer OF less nutritive
power for the proportion OF organic and inor-
ganic ingredients. found in the barley and not
in the glucose. is reduced. Beer Is food. and
any reduction of the proportion Of its food in
gradients should not be made The brewers
who use glucose say that. as It strengthens the
wort. it saves the excessive boiling which often
browns the sugar and makes the beer dark.
The Public Health Committee would. by
n a "a n re- tnpilp au "a
the most eminent chemists and food experts
cannot agree upon-what beer should be made
Of The old English definition OF beer is the
fermented infusion OF matted barley favored
with hops while n more liberal definition is
" the ermented infusion Of any starchy grain,
favored to suit the taste" Soma experts say
that malt liquors should only be made from
harley. on the ground that malt can be
made from nothing else: while others.
equally eminent. holding that malt can be
made from other grain than barley. say
that corn beer" is as much malt liquor"
as barley beer" The division Of chemistry
of the Department of Agriculture. in a report.
says that malt liquors. properly called.
should be made only OF matted barley. hops.
yeast and water. but the use OF other mate
riaIs as substitutes for the first three ingre-
dents has extended SO greatly in countries
whore their use is not prohibited that it is
difficult to define what beer really is"
Heretofore when pure beer" bills have
come up. Investigations have been made by
department chemists. and the result of all
these inquiries has been to prevent legislation
by showing that American brewers are not
leaGued to extnGuish the race. Not long ago
one of the monthly crop reports Of the Depart
mcnt Of Agriculture made the statement that
the hop market was depressed because of
the general use Of chemicals as substi-
tutes for brewing. The Secretary Of Ag-
rculture looked into the matter and
found that the paragraph about hops had
been written by a department clerk. and
the Secretary apologized for the error: the use
OF hop substitutes. he said. appeared to be
rare. No better reply to the pure beer
agitators has been made than the report made
by G. A. CHAMPION, assistant chemist in the
division Of chemistry Of the Agricultural De-
partment. in the series of reports on Foods
and Adulterants" made under the supervision
o! DR.. II. W. Wiley. the chief chemist
Thirty-two different kinds of beer. including
the we'll known Milwaukee. Cincinnati. PhiIa-
clphia and New York brands were ana!yzed
by the department chemists. The samples
were nearly all purchased in saloons and
groceries-all tho draught beer was obtained
in this way. and the sellers OF the beer did not
suspect that an investigation was on. Al
in the making OF the majority OF these beers.
the chemists could not tell the difference be-
tween the barley beers" and the corn
beers" although samples whose analyses
showed low percentage OF phosphoric salts
were suspected "a being made of other starch
grains than barley. No substitutes for
hops were detected. The preservative
saIicylc acid, was found in six OF the nineteen
samples of bottled beer. No sample contained
boracic acid and none contained any sulphur
Gus acid All OF these acids are in common uso
as food preservatives. Salicyic acid. used by
some OF the best brewers to preserve their bot
tied beer. is a harmless thing If not taken into
the system in large quantities, but its tendency
is to check the action Of the digestive fluids.
and beer is healthier without it. Tho cAami-
nation by Government chemists OF all the
kinds Of beer sold in the capital failed to find
one which was not healthy Concerning mat
substitutes Mr., Champion made this comment:
A great deal has been said pro and con-. on
the subject Of the propriety of the use OF other
matter than matted barley as a source OF
saccharne material for brewing purposes.