Development of the Liquefaction of Gases_ (New York, 1899), and
Lefèvre, _La Liquéfaction des gaz et ses applications_; also the
article CONDENSATION OF GASES. But the literature of liquid gases is
mostly contained in scientific periodicals and the proceedings of
learned societies. Papers by Wroblewski and Olszewski on the
liquefaction of oxygen and nitrogen may be found in the _Comptes
rendus_, vols, xcvi.-cii., and there are important memoirs by the
former on the relations between the gaseous and liquid states and on
the compressibility of hydrogen in _Wien. Akad. Sitzber._ vols. xciv.
and xcvii.; his pamphlet _Comme l'air a été liquéfié_ (Paris, 1885)
should also be referred to. For Dewar's work, see _Proc. Roy. Inst._
from 1878 onwards, including "Solid Hydrogen" (1900); "Liquid Hydrogen
Calorimetry" (1904); "New Low Temperature Phenomena" (1905); "Liquid
Air and Charcoal at Low Temperatures" (1906); "Studies in High Vacua
and Helium at Low Temperatures" (1907); also "The Nadir of Temperature
and Allied Problems" (Bakerian Lecture), _Proc. Roy. Soc._ (1901), and
the Presidential Address to the British Association (1902). The
researches of Fleming and Dewar on the electrical and magnetic
properties of substances at low temperatures are described in _Proc.
Roy. Soc._ vol. lx., and _Proc. Roy. Inst._ (1896); see also
"Electrical Resistance of Pure Metals, Alloys and Non-Metals at the
Boiling-point of Oxygen," _Phil. Mag._ vol. xxxiv. (1892); "Electrical
Resistance of Metals and Alloys at Temperatures approaching the
Absolute Zero," _ibid._ vol. xxxvi. (1893); "Thermoelectric Powers of
Metals and Alloys between the Temperatures of the Boiling-point of
Water and the Boiling-point of Liquid Air," _ibid._ vol. xl. (1895);
and papers on the dielectric constants of various substances at low
temperatures in _Proc. Roy. Soc._ vols. lxi. and lxii. Optical and
spectroscopic work by Liveing and Dewar on liquid gases is described
in _Phil. Mag._ vols. xxxiv. (1892), xxxvi. (1893), xxxviii. (1894)
and xl. (1895); for papers by the same authors on the separation and
spectroscopic examination of the most volatile and least volatile
constituents of atmospheric air, see _Proc. Roy. Soc._ vols. lxiv.,
lxvii. and lxviii. An account of the influence of very low
temperatures on the germinative power of seeds is given by H. T. Brown
and F. Escombe in _Proc. Roy. Soc._ vol. lxii., and by Sir W.
Thiselton Dyer, _ibid._ vol. lxv., and their effect on bacteria is
discussed by A. Macfadyen, _ibid._ vols. lxvi. and lxxi. (J. Dr.)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Figs. 1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13 in this article are from _Proc.
Roy. Inst._, by permission.
[2] It may be noted that now that the commercial production of oxygen
is effected by the liquefaction of air, with separation of its
constituents in what is essentially a Coffey still, the chemist has
at his command large quantities not only of the less volatile
constituents, krypton and xenon, but also of the more volatile ones,
neon and helium. Roughly a million volumes of air contain 20 volumes
of neon and helium, about 15 of the former to 5 of the latter,
approximately 1 volume of hydrogen being associated with them, so
that in view of the enormous amounts of oxygen that are produced,
helium can be obtained in practically any quantity directly from the
atmosphere.
LIQUORICE. The hard and semi-vitreous sticks of paste, black in colour
and possessed of a sweet somewhat astringent taste, known as liquorice
paste or black sugar, are the inspissated juice of the roots of a
leguminous plant, _Glycyrrhiza glabra_, the _radix glycyrrhizae_ of the
pharmacopoeia. The plant is cultivated throughout the warmer parts of
Europe, especially on the Mediterranean shores, and to some extent in
Louisiana and California. The roots for use are obtained in lengths of 3
or 4 ft., varying in diameter from 1/4 to 1 in.; they are soft, flexible
and fibrous, and internally of a bright yellow colour, with a
characteristic, sweet pleasant taste. To this sweet taste of its root
the plant owes its generic name _Glycyrrhiza_ ([Greek: glykyrrhiza], the
sweet-root), of which the word liquorice is a corruption. The roots
contain grape-sugar, starch, resin, asparagine, malic acid and the
glucoside glycyrrhizin, C^24H36O9, a yellow amorphous powder with an
acid reaction and a distinctive bitter-sweet taste. On hydrolysis,
glycyrrhizin yields glucose and glycyrrhetin.
Stick liquorice is made by crushing and grinding the roots to a pulp,
which is boiled in water over an open fire, and the decoction
separated from the solid residue of the root is evaporated till a
sufficient degree of concentration is attained, after which, on
cooling, it is rolled into the form of sticks or other shapes for the
market. The preparation of the juice is a widely extended industry
along the Mediterranean coasts; but the quality best appreciated in
the United Kingdom is made in Calabria, and sold under the names of
Solazzi and Corigliano juice. Liquorice enters into the composition of
many cough lozenges and other demulcent preparations; and in the form
of aromatic syrups and elixirs it has a remarkable effect in masking
the taste of nauseous medicines.
LIQUOR LAWS. In most Western countries the sale of alcoholic liquor is
regulated by law. The original and principal object is to check the
evils arising from the immoderate use of such liquor, in the interest of
public order, morality and health; a secondary object is to raise
revenue from the traffic. The form and the stringency of the laws passed
for these purposes vary very widely in different countries according to
the habits of the people and the state of public opinion. The evils
which it is desired to check are much greater in some countries than in
others. Generally speaking they are greater in northern countries and
cold and damp climates than in southern and more sunny ones. Climate has
a marked influence on diet for physiological reasons over which we have
no control. The fact is attested by universal experience and is
perfectly natural and inevitable, though usually ignored in those
international comparisons of economic conditions and popular customs
which have become so common. It holds good both of food and drink. The
inhabitants of south Europe are much less given to alcoholic excess than
those of central Europe, who again are more temperate than those of the
north. There is even a difference between localities so near together as
the east and west of Scotland. The chairman of the Prison Commissioners
pointed out before a British royal commission in the year 1897 the
greater prevalence of drunkenness in the western half, and attributed it
in part to the dampness of the climate on the western coast. But race
also has an influence. The British carry the habit of drinking wherever
they go, and their colonial descendants retain it even in hot and dry
climates. The Slav peoples and the Magyars in central Europe are much
more intemperate than the Teutonic and Latin peoples living under
similar climatic conditions. These natural differences lead, in
accordance with the principle discerned and enunciated by Montesquieu,
to the adoption of different laws, which vary with the local conditions.
But social laws of this character also vary with the state of public
opinion, not only in different countries but in the same country at
different times. The result is that the subject is in a state of
incessant flux. There are not only many varieties of liquor laws, but
also frequent changes in them, and new experiments are constantly being
tried. The general tendency is towards increased stringency, not so much
because the evils increase, though that happens in particular places at
particular times, as because public opinion moves broadly towards
increasing condemnation of excess and increasing reliance on legislative
interference. The first is due partly to a general process of refining
manners, partly to medical influence and the growing attention paid to
health; the second to a universal tendency which seems inherent in
democracy.
Liquor laws may be classified in several ways, but the most useful way
for the present purpose will be to take the principal methods of
conducting the traffic as they exist, under four main headings, and
after a brief explanation give some account of the laws in the principal
countries which have adopted them. The four methods are: (1) licensing
or commercial sale for private profit under a legal permit; (2) sale by
authorized bodies not for private profit, commonly known as the
Scandinavian or company system; (3) state monopoly; (4) prohibition. It
is not a scientific classification, because the company system is a form
of licensing and prohibition is no sale at all; but it follows the lines
of popular discussion and is more intelligible than one of a more
technical character would be. All forms of liquor legislation deal
mainly with retail sale, and particularly with the sale for immediate
consumption on the spot.
1. _Licensing._--This is by far the oldest and the most widely adopted
method; it is the one which first suggests itself in the natural course
of things. Men begin by making and selling a thing without let or
hindrance to please themselves. Then objections are raised, and when
they are strong or general enough the law interferes in the public
interest, at first mildly; it says in effect--This must not go on in
this way or to this extent; there must be some control, and permission
will only be given to duly authorized persons. Such persons are licensed
or permitted to carry on the traffic under conditions, and there is
obviously room for infinite gradations of strictness in granting
permission and infinite variety in the conditions imposed. The procedure
may vary from mere notification of the intention to open an
establishment up to a rigid and minutely detailed system of annual
licensing laid down by the law. But in all cases, even when mere
notification is required, the governing authority has the right to
refuse permission or to withdraw it for reasons given, and so it retains
the power of control. At the same time holders of the permission may be
compelled to pay for the privilege and so contribute to the public
revenue. The great merit of the licensing system is its perfect
elasticity, which permits adjustment to all sorts of conditions and to
the varying demands of public opinion. It is in force in the United
Kingdom, which first adopted it, in most European countries, in the
greater part of North America, including both the United States and
Canada, in the other British dominions and elsewhere.
2. _The Scandinavian or Company System._--The principle of this method
is the elimination of private profit on the ground that it removes an
incentive to the encouragement of excessive drinking. A monopoly of the
sale of liquor is entrusted to a body of citizens who have, or are
supposed to have, no personal interest in it, and the profits are
applied to public purposes. The system, which is also called
"disinterested management," is adopted in Sweden and Norway; and the
principle has been applied in a modified form in England and Finland by
the operation of philanthropic societies which, however, have no
monopoly but are on the same legal footing as ordinary traders.
3. _State Monopoly._--As the name implies, this system consists in
retaining the liquor trade in the hands of the state, which thus secures
all the profit and is at the same time able to exercise complete
control. It is adopted in Russia, in certain parts of the United States
and, in regard to the wholesale trade, in Switzerland.
4. _Prohibition._--This may be general or local; in the latter case it
is called "local option" or "local veto." The sale of liquor is made
illegal in the hope of preventing drinking altogether or of diminishing
it by making it more difficult. General prohibition has been tried in
some American states, and is still in force in a few; it is also applied
to native races, under civilized rule, both in Africa and North America.
Local prohibition is widely in force in the United States, Canada and
Australasia, Sweden and Norway. In certain areas in other countries,
including the United Kingdom, the sale of liquor is in a sense
prohibited, not by the law, but by the owners of the property who refuse
to allow any public-houses. Such cases have nothing to do with the law,
but they are mentioned here because reference is often made to them by
advocates of legal prohibition.
THE UNITED KINGDOM
England has had a very much longer experience of liquor legislation than
any other country, and the story forms an introduction necessary to the
intelligent comprehension of liquor legislation in general. England
adopted a licensing system in 1551, and has retained it, with
innumerable modifications, ever since. The English were notorious for
hard drinking for centuries before licensing was adopted, and from time
to time sundry efforts had been made to check it, but what eventually
compelled the interference of the law was the growth of crime and
disorder associated with the public-houses towards the end of the 15th
century. Numbers of men who had previously been engaged in the civil
wars or on the establishment of feudal houses were thrown on the world
and betook themselves to the towns, particularly London, where they
frequented the ale-houses, "dicing and drinking," and lived largely on
violence and crime. An act was passed in 1495 against vagabonds and
unlawful games, whereby justices of the peace were empowered to "put
away common ale-selling in towns and places where they should think
convenient and to take sureties of keepers of ale-houses in their good
behaviour." That was the beginning of statutory control of the trade.
The act clearly recognized a connexion between public disorder and
public-houses. The latter were ale-houses, for at that time ale was the
drink of the people; spirits had not yet come into common use, and wine,
the consumption of which on the premises was prohibited in 1552, was
only drunk by the wealthier classes.
_Early History of Licensing._--The act of 1551-1552, which introduced
licensing, was on the same lines but went further. It confirmed the
power of suppressing common ale-selling, and enacted that no one should
be allowed to keep a common ale-house or "tippling" house without
obtaining the permission of the justices in open session or of two of
their number. It further "directed that the justices should take from
the persons whom they licensed such bond and surety by recognisance as
they should think convenient, and empowered them in quarter session to
inquire into and try breaches by licensed persons of the conditions of
their recognisances and cases of persons keeping ale-houses without
licences and to punish the offenders" (Bonham Carter, Royal Commission
on Liquor Licensing Laws, vol. iii.). This act embodied the whole
principle of licensing, and the object was clearly stated in the
preamble: "For as much as intolerable hurts and troubles to the
commonwealth of this realm doth daily grow and increase through such
abuses and disorders as are had and used in common ale-houses and other
places called tippling houses." The evil was not due merely to the use
of alcoholic liquor but to the fact that these houses, being
public-houses, were the resort of idle and disorderly characters. The
distinction should be borne in mind.
The act seems to have been of some effect, for no further legislation
was attempted for half a century, though there is abundant evidence of
the intemperate habits of all classes. Mr Bonham Carter (loc. cit.)
observes:--
"The recognisances referred to in the act were valuable instruments
for controlling the conduct of ale-house keepers. The justices, in
exercise of their discretion, required the recognisances to contain
such conditions for the management and good order of the business as
they thought suitable. In this way a set of regulations came into
existence, many of which were subsequently embodied in acts of
Parliament. In some counties general rules were drawn up, which every
ale-house keeper was bound to observe."
It is interesting to note that among the conditions laid down about this
time were the following: Closing at 9 P.M. and during divine service on
Sunday; in some cases complete closing on Sunday except to travellers;
the licence-holder to notify to the constable all strangers staying for
more than a night and not to permit persons to continue drinking or
tippling; prohibition of unlawful games, receiving stolen goods and
harbouring bad characters; the use of standard measures and prices fixed
by law. There was, however, no uniformity of practice in these respects
until the 17th century, when an attempt was made to establish stricter
and more uniform control by a whole series of acts passed between 1603
and 1627. The evils which it was sought to remedy by these measures were
the existence of unlicensed houses, the use of ale-houses for mere
drinking and the prevalence of disorder. It was declared that the
ancient and proper use of inns and ale-houses was the refreshment and
lodging of travellers, and that they were not meant for "entertainment
and harbouring of lewd and idle people to spend and consume their money
and their time in lewd and drunken manner." Regulations were
strengthened for the suppression of unlicensed houses, licences were
made annual, and the justices were directed to hold a special licensing
meeting once a year (1618). Penalties were imposed on innkeepers for
permitting tippling, and also on tipplers and drunkards (1625). In 1634
licensing was first applied to Ireland. Later in the century heavy
penalties were imposed for adulteration.
The next chapter in the history of licensing has to do with spirits, and
is very instructive. Spirits were not a native product like beer; brandy
was introduced from France, gin from the Netherlands and whisky from
Ireland; but down to the year 1690 the consumption was small. The home
manufacture was strictly limited, and high duties on imported spirits
rendered them too dear for the general public unless smuggled.
Consequently the people had not acquired the taste for them. But in 1690
distilling was thrown open to any one on the payment of very trifling
duties, spirits became extremely cheap and the consumption increased
with great rapidity. Regulation of the retail traffic was soon found to
be necessary, and by an act passed in 1700-1701, the licensing
requirements already existing for ale-house keepers were extended to
persons selling distilled liquors for consumption on the premises. A new
class of public-houses in the shape of spirit bars grew up. In the year
1732 a complete and detailed survey of all the streets and houses in
London was carried out by William Maitland, F.R.S. Out of a total of
95,968 houses he found the following: brew-houses 171, inns 207, taverns
447, ale-houses 5975, brandy-shops 8659; total number of licensed houses
for the retail sale of liquor 15,288, of which considerably more than
one-half were spirit bars. The population was about three-quarters of a
million. About one house in every six was licensed at this time, and
that in spite of attempts made to check the traffic by restrictive acts
passed in 1728-1729. The physical and moral evils caused by the
excessive consumption of spirits were fully recognized; an additional
duty of 5s. a gallon was placed on the distiller, and retailers were
compelled to take out an excise licence of £20 per annum. The object was
to make spirits dearer and therefore less accessible. At the same time,
with a view to lessening the number of houses, the licensing procedure
of the justices was amended by the provision that licences should only
be granted at a general meeting of the justices acting in the division
where the applicant resided, thus abolishing the power conferred by the
original licensing act, of any two justices to grant a licence. This
change, effected in 1729, was a permanent improvement, though it did not
prevent the existence of the prodigious numbers of houses recorded by
Maitland in 1732. The attempt to make spirits dearer by high excise
duties, on the other hand, was adjudged a failure because it led to
illicit trade, and the act of 1728 was repealed in 1732. But the evil
was so glaring that another and more drastic attempt in the same
direction was made in 1736, when the famous Gin Act was passed in
response to a petition presented to parliament by the Middlesex
magistrates, declaring "that the drinking of geneva and other distilled
waters had for some years past greatly increased; that the constant and
excessive use thereof had destroyed thousands of His Majesty's subjects;
that great numbers of others were by its use rendered unfit for useful
labour, debauched in morals and drawn into all manner of vice and
wickedness...." The retailing of spirits in quantities of less than 2
gallons was made subject to a licence costing £50 and the retailer had
also to pay a duty of 20s. on every gallon sold. This experiment in
"high licensing" was a disastrous failure, though energetic attempts
were made to enforce it by wholesale prosecutions and by strengthening
the regulations against evasion. Public opinion was inflamed against it,
and the only results were corruptions of the executive and an enormous
increase of consumption through illicit channels. The consumption of
spirits in England and Wales nearly doubled between 1733 and 1742, and
the state of things was so intolerable that after much controversy the
high duties were repealed in 1742 with the object of bringing the trade
back into authorized channels; the cost of a licence was reduced from
£50 to £1 and the retail duty from 20s. to 1d. a gallon.
This period witnessed the high-water mark of intemperance in England.
From various contemporary descriptions it is abundantly clear that the
state of things was incomparably worse than anything in modern times, and
that women, whose participation in the practice of drinking and
frequenting public-houses is recorded by writers in the previous century,
were affected as well as men. The experience is particularly instructive
because it includes examples of excess and deficiency of opportunities
and the ill effects of both on a people naturally inclined to indulgence
in drink. It was followed by more judicious action, which showed the
adaptability of the licensing system and the advantages of a mean between
laxity and severity. Between 1743 and 1753 acts were passed which
increased control in a moderate way and proved much more successful than
the previous measures. The retail licence duty was moderately raised and
the regulations were amended and made stricter. The class of houses
eligible for licensing was for the first time taken into account, and the
retailing of spirits was only permitted on premises assessed for rates
and, in London, of the annual value of £10; justices having an interest
in the trade were excluded from licensing functions. Another measure
which had an excellent effect made "tippling" debts--that is, small
public-houses debts incurred for spirits--irrecoverable at law. The
result of these measures was that consumption diminished and the class of
houses improved. At the same time (1753) the general licensing provisions
were strengthened and extended. The distinction between new licences and
the renewal of old ones was for the first time recognized; applicants for
new licences in country districts were required to produce a certificate
of character from the clergy, overseers and church-wardens or from three
or four householders. The annual licensing sessions were made statutory,
and the consent of a justice was required for the transfer of a licence
from one person to another during the term for which it was granted.
Penalties for infringing the law were increased, and the licensing system
was extended to Scotland (1755-1756). With regard to wine, it has already
been stated that consumption on the premises was forbidden in 1552, and
at the same time the retail sale was restricted to towns of some
importance and the number of retailers, who had to obtain an appointment
from the corporation or the justices, was strictly limited. In 1660
consumption on the premises was permitted under a Crown (excise) licence,
good for a variable term of years; in 1756 this was changed to an annual
excise licence of fixed amount, and in 1792 wine was brought under the
same jurisdiction of the justices as other liquors.