(Humulus Lupulus. _Stroboli Siccati._)
QUALITIES. _Odour_, fragrant, and sub-narcotic. _Taste_, bitter,
astringent, and aromatic. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. Tannin, 5 grs.;
Extractive, 10 grs.; Bitter principle, 11 grs.; Wax, 12 grs.; Resin, 36
grs.; Lignin, 46 grs. The fact, with respect to the residence of the
properties of the hop in the yellow grains scattered over its scales,
has been since confirmed by the observations of M. Payen and A.
Chevalier, who have moreover detected a volatile oil in the Lupulin,
amounting to 2 per cent.; its proportion, however, appears to vary in
the Hop of different countries; the French hop, for instance, has been
found to contain more than the Belgic, but less than the English; Hops,
moreover, soon after having been picked, yield, _cæteris paribus_, more
oil and less resin than the old; a circumstance which induced M. M.
Payen and Chevalier to suspect that the oil is capable of being
resinified. (_Journal de Pharmacie, Juin 1822._) This oil is similar in
odour to the hop, but much more penetrating, narcotic, and very acrid in
the throat.
SOLUBILITY. Boiling water, alcohol, and æther, extract their virtues;
but their aromatic flavour is destroyed by decoction; like most
vegetable bitters, the cold is more grateful than the warm infusion; its
colour is deepened by alkalies, and rendered turbid by the mineral
acids; metallic salts also produce decomposition. MEDICINAL USES. Hops
have been said to be tonic, narcotic, and diuretic; they have been
recommended in the cure of rheumatism; and, like many articles in the
materia medica which have received the sanction of respectable
practitioners, they have been extolled far beyond their merit. They
undoubtedly possess the advantages of a pleasant bitter combined with a
feeble narcotic; the late Mr. Freake was very sanguine as to their
powers, and at his request I made a series of experiments at the
Westminster Hospital, but I confess that their results have not
established my confidence in their efficacy. OFFICINAL PREPARATIONS.
_Extract. Humili._ L. _Tinct. Humili._ L. Their use as a preservative of
beer is well known, and the philosophy of their agency is fully
described in the first part of this work, (_page 168_); it is equally
notorious, that various vegetable substances are daily substituted for
them, such as _Quassia_[520] and _Wormwood_, both of which are inferior
to the _Menyanthes Trifoliata_, or _Marsh Trefoil_. The people of Jersey
are said to use the wood-sage, _Teucrium Scorodonia_; it imparts however
a very high colour to the beer. During the first four years that the
Cape of Good Hope was in the possession of the British, more than
300,000 pounds of Aloes were imported into England; how could such a
quantity be consumed? except, as Mr. Barrow states, by the London Porter
brewers; it must however be allowed that a considerable quantity of this
article is used by the Varnish makers.