Chapter II: Part 2

[v.04 p.0504] Till the council of Trent every bishop had full power to regulate the Breviary of his own diocese; and this was acted upon almost everywhere. Each monastic community, also, had one of its own. Pius V. (pope 1566-1572), however, while sanctioning those which could show at least 200 years of existence, made the Roman obligatory in all other places. But the influence of the court of Rome has gradually gone much beyond this, and has superseded almost all the local "uses." The Roman has thus become nearly universal, with the allowance only of additional offices for saints specially venerated in each particular diocese. The Roman Breviary has undergone several revisions: The most remarkable of these is that by Francis Quignonez, cardinal of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (1536), which, though not accepted by Rome,[1] formed the model for the still more thorough reform made in 1549 by the Church of England, whose daily morning and evening services are but a condensation and simplification of the Breviary offices. Some parts of the prefaces at the beginning of the English Prayer-Book are free translations of those of Quignonez. The Pian Breviary was again altered by Sixtus V. in 1588, who introduced the revised Vulgate text; by Clement VIII. in 1602 (through Baronius and Bellarmine), especially as concerns the rubrics; and by Urban VIII. (1623-1644), a purist who unfortunately tampered with the text of the hymns, injuring both their literary charm and their historic worth.

In the 17th and 18th centuries a movement of revision took place in France, and succeeded in modifying about half the Breviaries of that country. Historically, this proceeded from the labours of Jean de Launoy (1603-1678), "le dénicheur des saints," and Louis Sébastien le Nain de Tillemont, who had shown the falsity of numerous lives of the saints; while theologically it was produced by the Port Royal school, which led men to dwell more on communion with God as contrasted with the invocation of the saints. This was mainly carried out by the adoption of a rule that all antiphons and responses should be in the exact words of Scripture, which, of course, cut out the whole class of appeals to created beings. The services were at the same time simplified and shortened, and the use of the whole Psalter every week (which had become a mere theory in the Roman Breviary, owing to its frequent supersession by saints' day services) was made a reality. These reformed French Breviaries--_e.g._ the Paris Breviary of 1680 by Archbishop François de Harlay (1625-1695) and that of 1736 by Archbishop Charles Gaspard Guillaume de Vintimille (1655-1746)--show a deep knowledge of Holy Scripture, and much careful adaptation of different texts; but during the pontificate of Pius IX. a strong Ultramontane movement arose against them. This was inaugurated by Montalembert, but its literary advocates were chiefly Dom Gueranger, a learned Benedictine monk, abbot of Solesmes, and Louis François Veuillot (1813-1883) of the _Univers_; and it succeeded in suppressing them everywhere, the last diocese to surrender being Orleans in 1875. The Jansenist and Gallican influence was also strongly felt in Italy and in Germany, where Breviaries based on the French models were published at Cologne, Münster, Mainz and other towns. Meanwhile, under the direction of Benedict XIV. (pope 1740-1758), a special congregation collected many materials for an official revision, but nothing was published. Subsequent changes have been very few and minute. In 1902, under Leo XIII., a commission under the presidency of Monsignor Louis Duchesne was appointed to consider the Breviary, the Missal, the Pontifical and the Ritual.

The beauty and value of many of the Latin Breviaries were brought to the notice of English churchmen by one of the numbers of the Oxford _Tracts for the Times_, since which time they have been much more studied, both for their own sake and for the light they throw upon the English Prayer-Book.

From a bibliographical point of view some of the early printed Breviaries are among the rarest of literary curiosities, being merely local. The copies were not spread far, and were soon worn out by the daily use made of them. Doubtless many editions have perished without leaving a trace of their existence, while others are known by unique copies. In Scotland the only one which has survived the convulsions of the 16th century is that of Aberdeen, a Scottish form of the Sarum Office,[2] revised by William Elphinstone (bishop 1483-1514), and printed at Edinburgh by Walter Chapman and Andrew Myllar in 1509-1510. Four copies have been preserved of it, of which only one is complete; but it was reprinted in facsimile in 1854 for the Bannatyne Club by the munificence of the duke of Buccleuch. It is particularly valuable for the trustworthy notices of the early history of Scotland which are embedded in the lives of the national saints. Though enjoined by royal mandate in 1501 for general use within the realm of Scotland, it was probably never widely adopted. The new Scottish _Proprium_ sanctioned for the Roman Catholic province of St Andrews in 1903 contains many of the old Aberdeen collects and antiphons.

The Sarum or Salisbury Breviary itself was very widely used. The first edition was printed at Venice in 1483 by Raynald de Novimagio in folio; the latest at Paris, 1556, 1557. While modern Breviaries are nearly always printed in four volumes, one for each season of the year, the editions of the Sarum never exceeded two parts.

_Contents of the Roman Breviary_.--At the beginning stands the usual introductory matter, such as the tables for determining the date of Easter, the calendar, and the general rubrics. The Breviary itself is divided into four seasonal parts--winter, spring, summer, autumn--and comprises under each part (1) the Psalter; (2) _Proprium de Tempore_ (the special office of the season); (3) _Proprium Sanctorum_ (special offices of saints); (4) _Commune Sanctorum_ (general offices for saints); (5) Extra Services. These parts are often published separately.

1. _The Psalter_.--This is the very backbone of the Breviary, the groundwork of the Catholic prayer-book; out of it have grown the antiphons, responsories and versicles. In the Breviary the psalms are arranged according to a disposition dating from the 8th century, as follows. Psalms i.-cviii., with some omissions, are recited at Matins, twelve each day from Monday to Saturday, and eighteen on Sunday. The omissions are said at Lauds, Prime and Compline. Psalms cix.-cxlvii. (except cxvii., cxviii. and cxlii.) are said at Vespers, five each day. Psalms cxlviii.-cl. are always used at Lauds, and give that hour its name. The text of this Psalter is that commonly known as the Gallican. The name is misleading, for it is simply the second revision (A.D. 392) made by Jerome of the old _Itala_ version originally used in Rome. Jerome's first revision of the _Itala_ (A.D. 383), known as the Roman, is still used at St Peter's in Rome, but the "Gallican," thanks especially to St Gregory of Tours, who introduced it into Gaul in the 6th century, has ousted it everywhere else. The Antiphonary of Bangor proves that Ireland accepted the Gallican version in the 7th century, and the English Church did so in the 10th.

2. The _Proprium de Tempore_ contains the office of the seasons of the Christian year (Advent to Trinity), a conception that only gradually grew up. There is here given the whole service for every Sunday and week-day, the proper antiphons, responsories, hymns, and especially the course of daily Scripture-reading, averaging about twenty verses a day, and (roughly) arranged thus: for Advent, Isaiah; Epiphany to Septuagesima, Pauline Epistles; Lent, patristic homilies (Genesis on Sundays); Passion-tide, Jeremiah; Easter to Whitsun, Acts, Catholic epistles and Apocalypse; Whitsun to August, Samuel and Kings; August to Advent, Wisdom books, Maccabees, Prophets. The extracts are often scrappy and torn out of their context.

3. The _Proprium Sanctorum_ contains the lessons, psalms and liturgical formularies for saints' festivals, and depends on the days of the secular month. Most of the material here is hagiological biography, occasionally revised as by Leo XIII. in view of archaeological and other discoveries, but still largely uncritical. Covering a great stretch of time and space, they do for the worshipper in the field of church history what the Scripture readings do in that of biblical history. As something like 90% of the days in the year have, during the course of centuries, been allotted to some saint or other, it is easy to see how this section of the Breviary has encroached upon the _Proprium de Tempore_, and this is the chief problem that confronts any who are concerned for a revision of the Breviary.

4. The _Commune Sanctorum_ comprises psalms, antiphons, lessons, &c., for feasts of various groups or classes (twelve in all); _e.g._ apostles, martyrs, confessors, virgins, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. These offices are of very ancient date, and many of them were probably [v.04 p.0505] in origin proper to individual saints. They contain passages of great literary beauty. The lessons read at the third nocturn are patristic homilies on the Gospels, and together form a rough summary of theological instruction.

5. _Extra Services_.--Here are found the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Office of the Dead (obligatory on All Souls' Day), and offices peculiar to each diocese.

It has already been indicated, by reference to Matins, Lauds, &c., that not only each day, but each part of the day, has its own office, the day being divided into liturgical "hours." A detailed account of these will be found in the article HOURS, CANONICAL. Each of the hours of the office is composed of the same elements, and something must be said now of the nature of these constituent parts, of which mention has here and there been already made. They are: psalms (including canticles), antiphons, responsories, hymns, lessons, little chapters, versicles and collects.

The _psalms_ have already been dealt with, but it may be noted again how the multiplication of saints' festivals, with practically the same special psalms, tends in practice to constant repetition of about one-third of the Psalter, and correspondingly rare recital of the remaining two-thirds, whereas the _Proprium de Tempore_, could it be adhered to, would provide equal opportunities for every psalm. As in the Greek usage and in the Benedictine, certain canticles like the Song of Moses (Exodus xv.), the Song of Hannah (1 Sam. ii.), the prayer of Habakkuk (iii.), the prayer of Hezekiah (Isaiah xxxviii.) and other similar Old Testament passages, and, from the New Testament, the Magnificat, the Benedictus and the Nunc dimittis, are admitted as psalms.

The _antiphons_ are short liturgical forms, sometimes of biblical, sometimes of patristic origin, used to introduce a psalm. The term originally signified a chant by alternate choirs, but has quite lost this meaning in the Breviary.

The _responsories_ are similar in form to the antiphons, but come at the end of the psalm, being originally the reply of the choir or congregation to the precentor who recited the psalm.

The _hymns_ are short poems going back in part to the days of Prudentius, Synesius, Gregory of Nazianzus and Ambrose (4th and 5th centuries), but mainly the work of medieval authors. Together they make a fine collection, and it is a pity that Urban VIII. in his mistaken humanistic zeal tried to improve them.

The _lessons_, as has been seen, are drawn variously from the Bible, the Acts of the Saints and the Fathers of the Church. In the primitive church, books afterwards excluded from the canon were often read, _e.g._ the letters of Clement of Rome and the _Shepherd of Hermas_. In later days the churches of Africa, having rich memorials of martyrdom, used them to supplement the reading of Scripture. Monastic influence accounts for the practice of adding to the reading of a biblical passage some patristic commentary or exposition. Books of homilies were compiled from the writings of SS. Augustine, Hilary, Athanasius, Isidore, Gregory the Great and others, and formed part of the library of which the Breviary was the ultimate compendium. In the lessons, as in the psalms, the order for special days breaks in upon the normal order of ferial offices and dislocates the scheme for consecutive reading. The lessons are read at Matins (which is subdivided into three nocturns).

The _little chapters_ are very short lessons read at the other "hours."

The _versicles_ are short responsories used after the little chapters.

The _collects_ come at the close of the office and are short prayers summing up the supplications of the congregation. They arise out of a primitive practice on the part of the bishop (local president), examples of which are found in the _Didach[=e]_ (Teaching of the Apostles) and in the letters of Clement of Rome and Cyprian. With the crystallization of church order improvisation in prayer largely gave place to set forms, and collections of prayers were made which later developed into Sacramentaries and Orationals. The collects of the Breviary are largely drawn from the Gelasian and other Sacramentaries, and they are used to sum up the dominant idea of the festival in connexion with which they happen to be used.

The difficulty of harmonizing the _Proprium de Tempore_ and the _Proprium Sanctorum_, to which reference has been made, is only partly met in the thirty-seven chapters of general rubrics. Additional help is given by a kind of Catholic Churchman's Almanack, called the _Ordo Recitandi Divini Officii_, published in different countries and dioceses, and giving, under every day, minute directions for proper reading.

Every clerk in orders and every member of a religious order must publicly join in or privately read aloud (_i.e._ using the lips as well as the eyes--it takes about two hours in this way) the whole of the Breviary services allotted for each day. In large churches the services are usually grouped; _e.g._ Matins and Lauds (about 7.30 A.M.); Prime, Terce (High Mass), Sext, and None (about 10 A.M.); Vespers and Compline (4 P.M.); and from four to eight hours (depending on the amount of music and the number of high masses) are thus spent in choir. Laymen do not use the Breviary as a manual of devotion to any great extent.

The Roman Breviary has been translated into English (by the marquess of Bute in 1879; new ed. with a trans, of the Martyrology, 1908), French and German. The English version is noteworthy for its inclusion of the skilful renderings of the ancient hymns by J.H. Newman, J.M. Neale and others.

AUTHORITIES.--F. Cabrol, _Introduction aux études liturgiques_; Probst, _Kirchenlex_. ii., _s.v._ "Brevier"; Bäumer, _Geschichte des Breviers_ (Freiburg, 1895); P. Batiffol, _L'Histoire du bréviaire romain_ (Paris, 1893; Eng. tr.); Baudot, _Le Bréviaire romain_ (1907). A complete bibliography is appended to the article by F. Cabrol in the _Catholic Encyclopaedia_, vol. ii. (1908).

[1] It was approved by Clement VII. and Paul III., and permitted as a substitute for the unrevised Breviary, until Pius V. in 1568 excluded it as too short and too modern, and issued a reformed edition (_Breviarium Pianum_, Pian Breviary) of the old Breviary.

[2] The Sarum Rite was much favoured in Scotland as a kind of protest against the jurisdiction claimed by the church of York.

BREVIARY OF ALARIC (_Breviarium Alaricanum_), a collection of Roman law, compiled by order of Alaric II., king of the Visigoths, with the advice of his bishops and nobles, in the twenty-second year of his reign (A.D. 506). It comprises sixteen books of the Theodosian code; the Novels of Theodosius II., Valentinian III., Marcian, Majorianus and Severus; the Institutes of Gaius; five books of the _Sententiae Receptae_ of Julius Paulus; thirteen titles of the Gregorian code; two titles of the Hermogenian code; and a fragment of the first book of the _Responsa Papiniani_. It is termed a code (codex), in the certificate of Anianus, the king's referendary, but unlike the code of Justinian, from which the writings of jurists were excluded, it comprises both imperial constitutions (_leges_) and juridical treatises (_jura_). From the circumstance that the Breviarium has prefixed to it a royal rescript (_commonitorium_) directing that copies of it, certified under the hand of Anianus, should be received exclusively as law throughout the kingdom of the Visigoths, the compilation of the code has been attributed to Anianus by many writers, and it is frequently designated the Breviary of Anianus (Breviarium Aniani). The code, however, appears to have been known amongst the Visigoths by the title of "Lex Romana," or "Lex Theodosii," and it was not until the 16th century that the title of "Breviarium" was introduced to distinguish it from a recast of the code, which was introduced into northern Italy in the 9th century for the use of the Romans in Lombardy. This recast of the Visigothic code has been preserved in a MS. known as the Codex Utinensis, which was formerly kept in the archives of the cathedral of Udine, but is now lost; and it was published in the 18th century for the first time by P. Canciani in his collection of ancient laws entitled _Barbarorum Leges Antiquae_. Another MS. of this Lombard recast of the Visigothic code was discovered by Hänel in the library of St Gall. The chief value of the Visigothic code consists in the fact that it is the only collection of Roman Law in which the five first books of the Theodosian code and five books of the _Sententiae Receptae_ of Julius Paulus have been preserved, and until the discovery of a MS. in the chapter library in Verona, which contained the greater part of the Institutes of Gaius, it was the only work in which any portion of the institutional writings of that great jurist had come down to us.

The most complete edition of the Breviarium will be found in the collection of Roman law published under the title of _Jus Civile Ante-Justinianum_ (Berlin, 1815). See also G. Hänel's _Lex Romana Visigothorum_ (Berlin, 1847-1849).

BREWER, JOHN SHERREN (1810-1879), English historian, was born in Norwich in 1810, the son of a Baptist schoolmaster. He was educated at Queen's College, Oxford, was ordained in the Church of England in 1837, and became chaplain to a central London workhouse. In 1839 he was appointed lecturer in classical literature at King's College, London, and in 1855 he became professor of English language and literature and lecturer in modern history, succeeding F.D. Maurice. Meanwhile from 1854 onwards he was also engaged in journalistic work on the _Morning Herald_, _Morning Post_ and _Standard_. In 1856 he was commissioned by the master of the rolls to prepare a calendar of the state papers of Henry VIII., a work demanding a vast amount of research. He was also made reader at the Rolls, and subsequently preacher. In 1877 Disraeli secured for him the crown living of Toppesfield, Essex. There he had time to continue his task of preparing his _Letters and Papers of the Reign of King Henry VIII_., the Introductions to which (published separately, under the title _The Reign of Henry VIII_., in 1884) form a scholarly and authoritative history of Henry VIII.'s reign. New editions of several standard historical works were also produced under Brewer's direction. He died at Toppesfield in February 1879.

[v.04 p.0506] BREWING, in the modern acceptation of the term, a series of operations the object of which is to prepare an alcoholic beverage of a certain kind--to wit, beer--mainly from cereals (chiefly malted barley), hops and water. Although the art of preparing beer (_q.v._) or ale is a very ancient one, there is very little information in the literature of the subject as to the apparatus and methods employed in early times. It seems fairly certain, however, that up to the 18th century these were of the most primitive kind. With regard to _materials_, we know that prior to the general introduction of the hop (see ALE) as a preservative and astringent, a number of other bitter and aromatic plants had been employed with this end in view. Thus J.L. Baker (_The Brewing Industry_) points out that the Cimbri used the _Tamarix germanica_, the Scandinavians the fruit of the sweet gale (_Myrica gale_), the Cauchi the fruit and the twigs of the chaste tree (_Vitex agrius castus_), and the Icelanders the yarrow (_Achillea millefolium_).

The preparation of beer on anything approaching to a manufacturing scale appears, until about the 12th or 13th century, to have been carried on in England chiefly in the monasteries; but as the brewers of London combined to form an association in the reign of Henry IV., and were granted a charter in 1445, it is evident that brewing as a special trade or industry must have developed with some rapidity. After the Reformation the ranks of the trade brewers were swelled by numbers of monks from the expropriated monasteries. Until the 18th century the professional brewers, or brewers for sale, as they are now called, brewed chiefly for the masses, the wealthier classes preparing their own beer, but it then became gradually apparent to the latter (owing no doubt to improved methods of brewing, and for others reasons) that it was more economical and less troublesome to have their beer brewed for them at a regular brewery. The usual charge was 30s. per barrel for bitter ale, and 8s. or so for small beer. This tendency to centralize brewing operations became more and more marked with each succeeding decade. Thus during 1895-1905 the number of private brewers declined from 17,041 to 9930. Of the private brewers still existing, about four-fifths were in the class exempted from beer duty, _i.e._ farmers occupying houses not exceeding £10 annual value who brew for their labourers, and other persons occupying houses not exceeding £15 annual value. The private houses subject to both beer and licence duty produced less than 20,000 barrels annually. There are no official figures as to the number of "cottage brewers," that is, occupiers of dwellings not exceeding £8 annual value; but taking everything into consideration it is probable that more than 99% of the beer produced in the United Kingdom is brewed by public brewers (brewers for sale). The disappearance of the smaller public brewers or their absorption by the larger concerns has gone hand-in-hand with the gradual extinction of the private brewer. In the year 1894-1895 8863 licences were issued to brewers for sale, and by 1904-1905 this number had been reduced to 5164. There are numerous reasons for these changes in the constitution of the brewing industry, chief among them being (a) the increasing difficulty, owing partly to licensing legislation and its administration, and partly to the competition of the great breweries, of obtaining an adequate outlet for retail sale in the shape of licensed houses; and (b) the fact that brewing has continuously become a more scientific and specialized industry, requiring costly and complicated plant and expert manipulation. It is only by employing the most up-to-date machinery and expert knowledge that the modern brewer can hope to produce good beer in the short time which competition and high taxation, &c., have forced upon him. Under these conditions the small brewer tends to extinction, and the public are ultimately the gainers. The relatively non-alcoholic, lightly hopped and bright modern beers, which the small brewer has not the means of producing, are a great advance on the muddy, highly hopped and alcoholized beverages to which our ancestors were accustomed.

The brewing trade has reached vast proportions in the United Kingdom. The maximum production was 37,090,986 barrels in 1900, and while there has been a steady decline since that year, the figures for 1905-1906--34,109,263 barrels--were in excess of those for any year preceding 1897. It is interesting in this connexion to note that the writer of the article on Brewing in the 9th edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ was of the opinion that the brewing industry--which was then (1875) producing, roughly, 25,000,000 barrels--had attained its maximum development. In the year ending 30th September 1905 the beer duty received by the exchequer amounted to £13,156,053. The number of brewers for sale was 5180. Of these one firm, namely, Messrs Guinness, owning the largest brewery in the world, brewed upwards of two million barrels, paying a sum of, roughly, one million sterling to the revenue. Three other firms brewed close on a million barrels or upwards. The quantity of malt used was 51,818,697 bushels; of unmalted corn, 125,671 bushels; of rice, flaked maize and similar materials, 1,348,558 cwt.; of sugar, 2,746,615 cwt.; of hops, 62,360,817 lb; and of hop substitutes, 49,202 lb. The average specific gravity of the beer produced in 1905-1906 was 1053.24. The quantity of beer exported was 520,826; of beer imported, 57,194 barrels. It is curious to note that the figures for exports and imports had remained almost stationary for the last thirty years. By far the greater part of the beer brewed is consumed in England. Thus of the total quantity retained for consumption in 1905-1906, 28,590,563 barrels were consumed in England, 1,648,463 in Scotland, and 3,265,084 in Ireland. In 1871 it was calculated by Professor Leone Levi that the capital invested in the liquor trade in the United Kingdom was £117,000,000. In 1908 this figure might be safely doubled. A writer in the _Brewers' Almanack_ for 1906 placed the capital invested in limited liability breweries alone at £185,000,000. If we allow for over-capitalization, it seems fairly safe to say that, prior to the introduction of the Licensing Bill of 1908, the market value of the breweries in the United Kingdom, together with their licensed property, was in the neighbourhood of £120,000,000, to which might be added another £20,000,000 for the value of licences not included in the above calculation; the total capital actually sunk in the whole liquor trade (including the wine and spirit industries and trades) being probably not far short of £250,000,000, and the number of persons directly engaged in or dependent on the liquor trade being under-estimated at 2,000,000. (For comparative production and consumption see BEER.)

_Taxation and Regulations_.--The development of the brewing industry in England is intimately interwoven with the history of its taxation, and the regulations which have from time to time been formed for the safeguarding of the revenue. The first duty on beer in the United Kingdom was imposed in the reign of Charles II. (1660), namely 2s. 6d. per barrel on strong and 6d. per barrel on weak beer. This was gradually increased, amounting to 4s. 9d. on strong and 1s. 3d. on weak beer in the last decade of the 17th century, and to 8s. to 10s. in the year 1800, at which rate it continued until the repeal of the beer duty in 1830. A duty on malt was first imposed in the reign of William III. (1697), and from that date until 1830 both beer duty and malt tax were charged. The rate at first was under 7d. per bushel, but this was increased up to 2s. 7d. prior to the first repeal of the beer duty (1830), and to 4s. 6d. after the repeal. In 1829 the joint beer and malt taxes amounted to no less than 13s. 8d. per barrel, or 4½d. per gallon, as against 2½d. at the present day. From 1856 until the abolition of the malt tax, the latter remained constant at a fraction under 2s. 8½d. A _hop duty_ varying from 1d. to 2½d. per pound was in existence between 1711 and 1862. One of the main reasons for the abolition of the hop duty was the fact that, owing to the uncertainty of the crop, the amount paid to the revenue was subject to wide fluctuations. Thus in 1855 the revenue from this source amounted to £728,183, in 1861 to only £149,700.

It was not until 1847 that the use of sugar in brewing was permitted, and in 1850 the first sugar tax, amounting to 1s. 4d. per cwt., was imposed. It varied from this figure up to 6s. 6d. in 1854, and in 1874, when the general duty on sugar was repealed, it was raised to 11s. 6d., at which rate it remained until 1880, when it was repealed simultaneously with the malt duty. In 1901 a general sugar tax of 4s. 2d. and under (according to the percentage of actual sugar contained) was imposed, but no drawback was allowed to brewers using sugar, and therefore--and this obtains at the present day--sugar used in brewing pays the general tax and also the beer duty.

By the Free Mash-Tun Act of 1880, the duty was taken off the malt and placed on the beer, or, more properly speaking, on the wort; maltsters' and brewers' licences were repealed, and in lieu thereof an annual licence duty of £1 payable by every brewer for sale was [v.04 p.0507] imposed. The chief feature of this act was that, on and after the 1st of October 1880, a beer duty was imposed in lieu of the old malt tax, at the rate of 6s. 3d. per barrel of 36 gallons, at a specific gravity of 1.057, and the regulations for charging the duty were so framed as to leave the brewer practically unrestricted as to the description of malt or corn and sugar, or other description of saccharine substitutes (other than deleterious articles or drugs), which he might use in the manufacture or colouring of beer. This freedom in the choice of materials has continued down to the present time, except that the use of "saccharin" (a product derived from coal-tar) was prohibited in 1888, the reason being that this substance gives an apparent palate-fulness to beer equal to roughly 4° in excess of its real gravity, the revenue suffering thereby. In 1889 the duty on beer was increased by a reduction in the standard of gravity from 1.057 to 1.055, and in 1894 a further 6d. per barrel was added. The duty thus became 6s. 9d. per barrel, at a gravity of 1.055, which was further increased to 7s. 9d. per barrel by the war budget of 1900, at which figure it stood in 1909. (See also LIQUOR LAWS.)

Prior to 1896, rice, flaked maize (see below), and other similar preparations had been classed as malt or corn in reference to their wort-producing powers, but after that date they were deemed sugar[1] in that regard. By the new act (1880) 42 lb weight of corn, or 28 lb weight of sugar, were to be deemed the equivalent of a bushel of malt, and a brewer was expected by one of the modes of charge to have brewed at least a barrel (36 gallons) of worts (less 4% allowed for wastage) at the standard gravity for every two bushels of malt (or its equivalents) used by him in brewing; but where, owing to lack of skill or inferior machinery, a brewer cannot obtain the standard quantity of wort from the standard equivalent of material, the charge is made not on the wort, but directly on the material. By the new act, licences at the annual duty of £1 on brewers for sale, and of 6s. (subsequently modified by 44 Vict. c. 12, and 48 and 49 Vict. c. 5, &c., to 4s.) or 9s., as the case might be, on any other brewers, were required. The regulations dealing with the mashing operations are very stringent. Twenty-four hours at least before mashing the brewer must enter in his brewing book (provided by the Inland Revenue) the day and hour for commencing to mash malt, corn, &c., or to dissolve sugar; and the date of making such entry; and also, two hours at least before the notice hour for mashing, the quantity of malt, corn, &c., and sugar to be used, and the day and hour when all the worts will be drawn off the grains in the mash-tun. The worts of each brewing must be collected within twelve hours of the commencement of the collection, and the brewer must within a given time enter in his book the quantity and gravity of the worts before fermentation, the number and name of the vessel, and the date of the entry. The worts must remain in the same vessel undisturbed for twelve hours after being collected, unless previously taken account of by the officer. There are other regulations, _e.g._ those prohibiting the mixing of worts of different brewings unless account has been taken of each separately, the alteration of the size or shape of any gauged vessel without notice, and so on.

_Taxation of Beer in Foreign Countries_.--The following table shows the nature of the tax and the amount of the same calculated to English barrels.

Country. Nature of Tax. Amount per English Barrel (round numbers) United States Beer tax 5s. 9d. Germany -- ---- N. German Customs Malt tax 1s. 6d Union ---- Bavaria Malt tax 3s. 5d. to 4s. 8d., according to quantity produced Belgium Malt tax 2s. 9d. France On Wort 4s. 1d. Holland On cubic About 1s. 9d. to 3s. contents of 3d., according to Mash-Tun or on quality Malt Austro-Hungarian Empire On Wort 6s. 8d. Russia Malt tax 5s. to 6s. 8d.

MATERIALS USED IN BREWING.--These are water, malt (_q.v._), hops (_q.v._), various substitutes for the two latter, and preservatives.

_Water_.--A satisfactory supply of water--which, it may here be mentioned, is always called _liquor_ in the brewery--is a matter of great importance to the brewer. Certain waters, for instance, those contaminated to any extent with organic matter, cannot be used at all in brewing, as they give rise to unsatisfactory fermentation, cloudiness and abnormal flavour. Others again, although suited to the production of one type of beer, are quite unfit for the brewing of another. For black beers a soft water is a desideratum, for ales of the Burton type a hard water is a necessity. For the brewing of mild ales, again, a water containing a certain proportion of chlorides is required. The presence or absence of certain mineral substances as such in the finished beer is not, apparently, a matter of any moment as regards flavour or appearance, but the importance of the rôle played by these substances in the brewing process is due to the influence which they exert on the solvent action of the water on the various constituents of the malt, and possibly of the hops. The excellent quality of the Burton ales was long ago surmised to be due mainly to the well water obtainable in that town. On analysing Burton water it was found to contain a considerable quantity of calcium sulphate--gypsum--and of other calcium and magnesium salts, and it is now a well-known fact that good bitter ales cannot be brewed except with waters containing these substances in sufficient quantities. Similarly, good mild ale waters should contain a certain quantity of sodium chloride, and waters for stout very little mineral matter, excepting perhaps the carbonates of the alkaline earths, which are precipitated on boiling.

The following analyses (from W.J. Sykes, _The Principles and Practice of Brewing_) are fairly illustrative of typical brewing waters.

_Burton Water_ (Pale Ale) Grains per Gallon Sodium Chloride 3.90 Potassium Sulphate 1.59 Sodium Nitrate 1.97 Calcium Sulphate 77.87 Calcium Carbonate 7.62 Magnesium Carbonate 21.31 Silica and Alumina 0.98 _Dublin Water_ (Stout). Sodium Chloride 1.83 Calcium Sulphate 4.45 Calcium Carbonate 14.21 Magnesium Carbonate 0.90 Iron Oxide and 0.24 Alumina Silica 0.26 _Mild Ale Water_. Sodium Chloride 35.14 Calcium Chloride 3.88 Calcium Sulphate 6.23 Calcium Carbonate 4.01 Iron Oxide and 0.24 Alumina Silica 0.22

Our knowledge of the essential chemical constituents of brewing waters enables brewers in many cases to treat an unsatisfactory supply artificially in such a manner as to modify its character in a favourable sense. Thus, if a soft water only is to hand, and it is desired to brew a bitter ale, all that is necessary is to add a sufficiency of gypsum, magnesium sulphate and calcium chloride. If it is desired to convert a soft water lacking in chlorides into a satisfactory mild ale liquor, the addition of 30-40 grains of sodium chloride will be necessary. On the other hand, to convert a hard water into a soft supply is scarcely feasible for brewing purposes. To the substances used for treating brewing liquors already mentioned we may add kainite, a naturally deposited composite salt containing potassium and magnesium sulphates and magnesium chloride.

_Malt Substitutes._--Prior to the repeal of the Malt Acts, the only substitute for malt allowed in the United Kingdom was sugar. The quantity of the latter employed was 295,865 cwt. in 1870, 1,136,434 cwt. in 1880, and 2,746,615 cwt. in 1905; that is to say, that the quantity used had been practically trebled during the last twenty-five years, although the quantity of malt employed had not materially increased. At the same time other substitutes, such as unmalted corn and preparations of rice and maize, had come into favour, the quantity of these substances used being in 1905 125,671 bushels of unmalted corn and 1,348,558 cwt. of rice, maize, &c.

The following statistics with regard to the use of malt substitutes in the United Kingdom are not without interest.

[v.04 p.0508]

Year. Quantities of Quantities of Percentage Malt and Corn Sugar, Rice, of used in Maize, &c. used Substitutes Brewing. in Brewing. to Total Material. Bushels. Bushels. 1878 59,388,905 3,825,148 6.05 1883 [2]51,331,451 [3]4,503,680 8.06 1890 [2]55,359,964 [3]7,904,708 12.48 1895 53,731,177 10,754,510 16.66 1905 51,942,368 15,706,413 23.22

The causes which have led to the largely increased use of substitutes in the United Kingdom are of a somewhat complex nature. In the first place, it was not until the malt tax was repealed that the brewer was able to avail himself of the surplus diastatic energy present in malt, for the purpose of transforming starch (other than that in malted grain) into sugar. The diastatic enzyme or ferment (see below, under _Mashing_) of malted barley is present in that material in great excess, and a part of this surplus energy may be usefully employed in converting the starch of unmalted grain into sugar. The brewer has found also that brewing operations are simplified and accelerated by the use of a certain proportion of substitutes, and that he is thereby enabled appreciably to increase his turn-over, _i.e._ he can make more beer in a given time from the same plant. Certain classes of substitutes, too, are somewhat cheaper than malt, and in view of the keenness of modern competition it is not to be wondered at that the brewer should resort to every legitimate means at his disposal to keep down costs. It has been contended, and apparently with much reason, that if the use of substitutes were prohibited this would not lead to an increased use of domestic barley, inasmuch as the supply of home barley suitable for malting purposes is of a limited nature. A return to the policy of "malt and hops only" would therefore lead to an increased use of foreign barley, and to a diminution in the demand for home barley, inasmuch as sugar and prepared cereals, containing as they do less nitrogen, &c. than even the well-cured, sun-dried foreign barleys, are better diluents than the latter. At the same time, it is an undoubted fact that an excessive use of substitutes leads to the production of beer of poor quality. The better class of brewer rarely uses more than 15-20%, knowing that beyond that point the loss of flavour and quality will in the long run become a more serious item than any increased profits which he might temporarily gain.

With regard to the nature of the substitutes or adjuncts for barley malt more generally employed, raw grain (unmalted barley, wheat, rice, maize, &c.) is not used extensively in Great Britain, but in America brewers employ as much as 50%, and even more, of maize, rice or similar materials. The maize and rice preparations mostly used in England are practically starch pure and simple, substantially the whole of the oil, water, and other subsidiary constituents of the grain being removed. The germ of maize contains a considerable proportion of an oil of somewhat unpleasant flavour, which has to be eliminated before the material is fit for use in the mash-tun. After degerming, the maize is unhusked, wetted, submitted to a temperature sufficient to rupture the starch cells, dried, and finally rolled out in a flaky condition. Rice is similarly treated.

The _sugars_ used are chiefly cane sugar, glucose and invert sugar--the latter commonly known as "saccharum." Cane sugar is mostly used for the preparation of heavy mild ales and stouts, as it gives a peculiarly sweet and full flavour to the beer, to which, no doubt, the popularity of this class of beverage is largely due. _Invert sugar_ is prepared by the action either of acid or of yeast on cane sugar. The chemical equation representing the conversion (or inversion) of cane sugar is:--

C12H22O11 + H2O = C6H12O6 + C6H12O6.
cane sugar water glucose fructose
----invert sugar----

Invert sugar is so called because the mixture of glucose and fructose which forms the "invert" is laevo-rotatory, whereas cane sugar is dextro-rotatory to the plane of polarized light. The preparation of invert sugar by the acid process consists in treating the cane sugar in solution with a little mineral acid, removing the excess of the latter by means of chalk, and concentrating to a thick syrup. The yeast process (Tompson's), which makes use of the inverting power of one of the enzymes (invertase) contained in ordinary yeast, is interesting. The cane sugar solution is pitched with yeast at about 55° C., and at this comparatively high temperature the inversion proceeds rapidly, and fermentation is practically impossible. When this operation is completed, the whole liquid (including the yeast) is run into the boiling contents of the copper. This method is more suited to the preparation of invert in the brewery itself than the acid process, which is almost exclusively used in special sugar works. Glucose, which is one of the constituents of invert sugar, is largely used by itself in brewing. It is, however, never prepared from invert sugar for this purpose, but directly from starch by means of acid. By the action of dilute boiling acid on starch the latter is rapidly converted first into a mixture of dextrine and maltose and then into glucose. The proportions of glucose, dextrine and maltose present in a commercial glucose depend very much on the duration of the boiling, the strength of the acid, and the extent of the pressure at which the starch is converted. In England the materials from which glucose is manufactured are generally sago, rice and purified maize. In Germany potatoes form the most common raw material, and in America purified Indian corn is ordinarily employed.

_Hop substitutes_, as a rule, are very little used. They mostly consist of quassia, gentian and camomile, and these substitutes are quite harmless _per se_, but impart an unpleasantly rough and bitter taste to the beer.

_Preservatives_.--These are generally, in fact almost universally, employed nowadays for draught ales; to a smaller extent for stock ales. The light beers in vogue to-day are less alcoholic, more lightly hopped, and more quickly brewed than the beers of the last generation, and in this respect are somewhat less stable and more likely to deteriorate than the latter were. The preservative in part replaces the alcohol and the hop extract, and shortens the brewing time. The preservatives mostly used are the bisulphites of lime and potash, and these, when employed in small quantities, are generally held to be harmless.

BREWING OPERATIONS.--The general scheme of operations in an English brewery will be readily understood if reference be made to fig. 1, which represents an 8-quarter brewery on the _gravitation system_, the principle of which is that all materials to be employed are pumped or hoisted to the highest point required, to start with, and that subsequently no further pumping or hoisting is required, the materials (in the shape of water, malt, wort or hops, &c.) being conveyed from one point to another by the force of gravity.

The malt, which is hoisted to the top floor, after cleaning and grading is conveyed to the _Malt Mill_, where it is crushed. Thence the ground malt, or "grist" as it is now called, passes to the _Grist Hopper_, and from the latter to the _Mashing Machine_, in which it is intimately mixed with hot water from the _Hot Liquor Vessel_. From the mashing machine the mixed grist and "liquor" pass to the _Mash-Tun_, where the starch of the malt is rendered soluble. From the mash-tun the clear wort passes to the _Copper_, where it is boiled with hops. From the copper the boiled wort passes to the _Hop Back_, where the insoluble hop constituents are separated from the wort. From the hop back the wort passes to the _Cooler_, from the latter to the _Refrigerator_, thence (for the purpose of enabling the revenue officers to assess the duty) to the _Collecting Vessel_,[4] and finally to the _Fermenting Vessels_, in which the wort is transformed into "green" beer. The latter is then cleansed, and finally racked and stored.

It will be seen from the above that brewing consists of seven distinct main processes, which may be classed as follows: (1) Grinding; (2) Mashing; (3) Boiling; (4) Cooling; (5) Fermenting; (6) Cleansing; (7) Racking and Storing.

_Grinding_.--In most modern breweries the malt passes, on its way [v.04 p.0509] from the bins to the mill, through a cleaning and grading apparatus, and then through an automatic measuring machine. The mills, which exist in a variety of designs, are of the smooth roller type, and are so arranged that the malt is _crushed_ rather than ground. If the malt is ground too fine, difficulties arise in regard to efficient drainage in the mash-tun and subsequent clarification. On the other hand, if the crushing is too coarse the subsequent extraction of soluble matter in the mash-tun is incomplete, and an inadequate yield results.

_Mashing_ is a process which consists mainly in extracting, by means of water at an adequate temperature, the soluble matters pre-existent in the malt, and in converting the insoluble starch and a great part of the insoluble nitrogenous compounds into soluble and partly fermentable products. Mashing is, without a doubt, the most important of the brewing processes, for it is largely in the mash-tun that the character of the beer to be brewed is determined. In modern practice the malt and the mashing "liquor" (_i.e._ water) are introduced into the mash-tun simultaneously, by means of the mashing machine (fig. 2, A). This is generally a cylindrical metal vessel, commanding the mash-tun and provided with a central shaft and screw. The grist (as the crushed malt is called) enters the mashing machine from the grist case above, and the liquor is introduced at the back. The screw is rotated rapidly, and so a thorough mixture of the grist and liquor takes place as they travel along the mashing machine. The mash-tun (fig. 2) is a large metal or wooden vessel, fitted with a false bottom composed of plates perforated with numerous small holes or slits (C). This arrangement is necessary in order to obtain a proper separation of the "wort" (as the liquid portion of the finished mash is called) from the spent grains. The mash-tun is also provided with a stirring apparatus (the _rakes_) so that the grist and liquor may be intimately mixed (D), and an automatic sprinkler, the _sparger_ (fig. 2, B, and fig. 3), which is employed in order to wash out the wort remaining in the grains. The sparger consists of a number of hollow arms radiating from a common centre and pierced by a number of small perforations. The common central vessel from which the sparge-arms radiate is mounted in such a manner that it rotates automatically when a stream of water is admitted, so that a constant fine spray covers the whole tun when the sparger is in operation. There are also pipes for admitting "liquor" to the bottom of the tun, and for carrying the wort from the latter to the "underback" or "copper."

The grist and liquor having been introduced into the tun (either by means of the mashing machine or separately), the rakes are set going, so that the mash may become thoroughly homogeneous, and after a short time the rakes are stopped and the mash allowed to rest, usually for a period of about two hours. After this, "taps are set"--_i.e._ communication is established between the mash-tun and the vessel into which the wort runs--and the sparger is started. In this manner the whole of the wort or extract is separated from the grains. The quantity of water employed is, in all, from two to three barrels to the quarter (336 lb) of malt.

In considering the process of mashing, one might almost say the process of brewing, it is essential to remember that the type and quality of the beer to be produced (see MALT) depends almost entirely (a) on the kind of malt employed, and (b) on the mashing temperature. In other words, quality may be controlled on the kiln or in the mash-tun, or both. Viewed in this light, the following theoretical methods for preparing different types of beer are possible:--(1) high kiln heats and high mashing temperatures; (2) high kiln heats and low mashing temperatures; (3) low kiln heats and high mashing temperatures; and (4) low kiln heats and low mashing temperatures. In practice all these combinations, together with many intermediate ones, are met with, and it is not too much to say that the whole science of modern brewing is based upon them. It is plain, then, that the mashing temperature will depend on the kind of beer that is to be produced, and on the kind of malt employed. For stouts and black beers generally, a mashing temperature of 148° to 150° F. is most usual; for pale or stock ales, 150° to 154° F.; and for mild running beers, 154° to 149° F. The range of temperatures employed in brewing English beers is a very limited one as compared with foreign mashing methods, and does not range further, practically speaking, than from 140° to 160° F. The effect of higher temperatures is chiefly to cripple the enzyme or "ferment" diastase, which, as already said, is the agent which converts the insoluble starch into soluble dextrin, sugar and intermediate products. The higher the mashing temperature, the more the diastase will be crippled in its action, and the more dextrinous (non-fermentable) matter as compared with maltose (fermentable sugar) will be formed. A pale or stock ale, which is a type of beer that must be "dry" and that will keep, requires to contain a relatively high proportion of dextrin and little maltose, and, in its preparation, therefore, a high mashing temperature will be employed. On the other hand, a mild running ale, which is a full, sweet beer, intended for rapid consumption, will be obtained by means of low mashing temperatures, which produce relatively little dextrin, but a good deal of maltose, _i.e._ sweet and readily fermentable matter.

Diastase is not the only enzyme present in malt. There is also a ferment which renders a part of the nitrogenous matter soluble. This again is affected by temperature in much the same way as diastase. Low heats tend to produce much non-coagulable [v.04 p.0510] nitrogenous matter, which is undesirable in a stock beer, as it tends to produce fret and side fermentations. With regard to the kind of malt and other materials employed in producing various types of beer, pale ales are made either from pale malt (generally a mixture of English and fine foreign, such as Smyrna, California) only, or from pale malt and a little flaked maize, rice, invert sugar or glucose. Running beers (mild ale) are made from a mixture of pale and amber malts, sugar and flaked goods; stout, from a mixture of pale, amber and roasted (black) malts only, or with the addition of a little sugar or flaked maize.

When raw grain is employed, the process of mashing is slightly modified. The maize, rice or other grain is usually gelatinized in a vessel (called a _converter_ or _cooker_) entirely separated from the mash-tun, by means of steam at a relatively high temperature, mostly with, but occasionally without, the addition of some malt meal. After about half an hour the gelatinized mass is mixed with the main mash, and this takes place shortly before taps are set. This is possible inasmuch as the starch, being already in a highly disintegrated condition, is very rapidly converted. By working on the limited-decoction system (see below), it is possible to make use of a fair percentage of raw grain in the mash-tun proper, thus doing away with the "converter" entirely.

_The Filter Press Process._--The ordinary mash-tun process, as described above, possesses the disadvantage that only coarse grists can be employed. This entails loss of extract in several ways. To begin with, the sparging process is at best a somewhat inefficient method for washing out the last portions of the wort, and again, when the malt is at all hard or "steely," starch conversion is by no means complete. These disadvantages are overcome by the filter press process, which was first introduced into Great Britain by the Belgian engineer P. Meura. The malt, in this method of brewing, is ground quite fine, and although an ordinary mash-tun may be used for mashing, the separation of the clear wort from the solid matter takes place in the filter press, which retains the very finest particles with ease. It is also a simple matter to wash out the wort from the filter cake in the presses, and experience has shown that markedly increased yields are thus obtained. In the writer's opinion, there is little doubt that in the future this, or a similar process, will find a very wide application.