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62
COMPOSITION
OF
DRINKS,
ETC.
for
use.
There
is
some
reason
to
believe
that
sulphuric
acid
is
occasionally
used
to
give
astringency
to
beer,
in
which
case
the
addition
of chloride
of
barium
to
the
liquor
will
cause
the
formation
of
a
bulky
precipitate
insoluble
in
nitric
acid.
Sulphate
of
iron
was,
and
probably
is still,
employed
for
restoring
the
flavor
of
beer.
Should
this
chemical
be
present
in
an
alcoholic
beverage,
by
add-
ing
ammonia
and
sulphide
of
ammonium
to
the
fluid
a
black
precipitate
will
be
produced.
More
recently,
trials
have
been
made
to
substitute
picric
acid
instead
of
hops;
beer
prepared
in
this
way
is
nothing
but
a
solution
of
glucose,
augmented
or
rather
spiced
with
picric
acid.
Taste
by
itself
fails
in
helping
us
to
distinguish
the
presence
of
this
acid,
but
Lassaigne
gave
us
the
means
of
detecting
even
the
slightest
pro-
portions of
said
acid
in
beer.
By
shaking
good,
un-
adulterated
beer
with
an
excess
of
pulverized
burned
bone-dust
it
loses
all
its
color,
as
the
powder
absorbs
all
the
dyestuffs;
but
when
doing
the
same
with
beer
adulterated
by
addition
of
picric
acid,
it
will
not
lose
its
yellowish
tint.
It
would
be
a
great
comfort
to
all
beer-drinkers
to
know
that
such
adulterations
belong
to
the
past;
but,
though
sorry
to
say
so,
we
are
of
the
opinion
of
old Dr.
Faust:
"
It's
true
the
message
I
do
hear,
yet
I
cannot
believe
it."