202

Mate k ia Mldica.

TAUT II,

dried when they become crisp; but they acquire a degree oftoughness and tenacity before they are bagged, from being laidin heaps in the store-houses. Five pounds of moist or under-ripe hops make one pound only when taken from the kiln.The best hops are brought to market in fine canvas sackscalled " pockets," each of which contains about 1J cwt. of hops.

Qualities. —Hops have a strong, peculiar, fragrant, sub-narcotic odour, and a very bitter, aromatic, astringent taste.They have a pale greenish yellow hue, appear like thin trans-parent veined leaves; and although not tough, yet are difficult*to pulverize. Their virtues are extracted by boiling water, oralcohol, or ether. The watery infusion has a pale straw colour,is rendered muddy by the mineral acids; alkalies deepen itscolour; it strikes an olive with sulphate of iron; is precipita-ted by alcohol, solutions of superacetate of lead, nitrate of sil-ver, and tartarized antimony: and when rubbed with magnesiaor lime, a rod dipped in muriatic acid discovers the presenceof ammonia. The ethereal tincture, when evaporated onwater, leaves a pellicle of greenish intensely bitter resin, anddeposits some extractive. By distillation in water, bops yielda volatile aromatic oil. From these experiments they appearto contain resin, extractive, mucilage, volatile oil, tannin, anammoniacal salt, and what has been termed the bitter principle.

Medical properties and uses. — Hops are narcotic, tonic, diu-retic; and, externally applied, anodyne and discutient Theiruse as a preservative of beer has been long known, and alsotheir narcotic powers in procuring sleep in the delirium of fe-ver, and in mania, when used as a pillow ; and owing to thiseffect having been lately confirmed, their efficacy as a generalnarcotic, when introduced into the stomach, has been investi-gated. 1 Dr. Maton observed that, besides allaying pain andproducing sleep, the preparations of hops reduce the frequencyof the pulse, and increase its firmness in a very direct manner.One drachm of the tincture and four grains of the extract givenonce in six hours, reduced the pulsations from 96 to 60 intwenty-four hours; 1 He found the extract exceedingly effica-cious in allaying the pain of articular rheumatism, and ourown experience has not ultimately afforded us sufficient proofof its utility as a sedative, and Dr. Bigsby's 3 experiments havelessened very much the confidence practitioners were disposedto give to it; and we are rather surprised that the EdinburghCollege has adopted it into their list of Materia Medica. Anointment compounded with the powder of the hop and lard is

1 De Roche's. De Humuli Lupuli firibus medicis.

2 Observations on the Humulus Lupulus, &c. by A. Freake.

3 Vide London Medical Repository, vol. v. p. 97.