Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/712

 688 L I Q L I Q 6-373; ammonia (combined), 043 ; asparagine, 2-416; ash, 4-060. It is to the sugar-like body glycyrrhizin in combination with ammonh that the peculiar taste and properties of liquorice root are due. Glycyrrhizin in itself is a tasteless nearly insoluble substance having the com position of C 1G H., 4 O G ; but in combination with ammonia, potash, or soda it develops its sweet taste. It is easily precipitated from its combination by the influence of mineral acids. Liquorice has been known and its virtues appreciated from the most remote periods, and the root is an article of some commercial importance on the Continent. 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 in copper pans 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. The liquorice grown in Yorkshire is made into a confection called Pontefract cakes. Liquorice in various forms is a popular remedy for coughs ; and it is largely used by children as a sweetmeat. 1 1 enters into the composition of many cough lozenges and other demulcent pre parations ; and in the form of aromatic syrups and elixirs it has a remarkable effect in masking the taste of nauseous medicines, a property peculiar to glycyrrhizin. A considerable quantity of liquorice is used in the preparation of tobacco for chewing. Com mercial liquorice paste is frequently much adulterated, and often contains distinct traces of copper, apparently derived from the vessels in which the juice is inspissated. LIQUOR LAWS may be divided into the three great systems of free trade, restriction, and prohibition. The system of free trade may mean either that no special licence is required by law for carrying on a traffic in intoxicating liquors, or that such a licence is required, but that the licensing authority is bound to grant it in every case in which certain conditions are complied with. Wherever the determination of these conditions involves an appeal to the discretion of the licensing authority, the system of free trade tends to pass into the system of restriction. For practical purposes it does not matter much whether the law says, &quot; every man of good character is entitled to a licence for a properly constructed house in a suitable locality,&quot; or &quot; the magistrate must consider the character of the applicant and of the premises, but is not bound to give reasons for his decision.&quot; But wherever the applicant can submit to a court capable of dealing with evidence the question of fact whether he has fulfilled certain conditions defined by law, the system of free trade may be said in theory to exist. Wherever, on the other hand, the law distinctly affirms an absolute discretion in the magistrate, or lays down a positive principle, such as the &quot;normal number&quot; or the fixed proportion between public-houses and population, the system is properly de scribed as restriction, or monopoly. This system, again, in its extreme form, tends to pass into one of prohibition. Under one of the alternative plans permitted by the Swedish licensing law of 1855, generally known as the Gothenburg plan, the municipality begins by the partial, and advances to the total, prohibition of liquor traffic, except by servants of the municipality ; and this plan is sometimes advocated merely as a step towards the suppres sion of all trade in liquor. In nearly all countries the nature of the trade carried on in public-houses has sub jected them to a much more rigorous police supervision than ordinary trades. All trades, however, must be carried on under the conditions required by the public comfort and safety ; and to give unlimited licence in such matters to publicans would be to violate social rights not inferior to freedom of industry and trade. Of recent years there has been a considerable increase in the amount of drunkenness in Europe generally. There are no means of determining the law of the increase by reliable statistics, but it seems probable that the increase is confined to the large towns and to the lowest classes. There has also been of late, both in the United Kingdom and on the Continent, a very earnest and animated discus sion on the policy and results of the various systems of liquor law. It cannot be said that so far any decisive experience has been adduced on the subject. In fact the legislation of Europe is in a very uneasy and changeful state. Thus, prior to the federal constitution of 1874, the cantons of Switzerland were in the habit of directing the municipal authorities to observe a certain proportion between the number of licences and the population. The new constitution, however, laid down the general principle of free trade, and the federal council intimated to the various cantons that it was no longer lawful to refuse a licence on the ground that there was no public need of it. In the previous year precisely the opposite change took place in Denmark. The licence system rested on the law of 29th December 1857, but this was modified by the law of 23d May 1873, which increased the conditions to be fulfilled by those applying for a licence, and conferred upon the communal authorities the power of fixing the maximum number of licences to be granted. Similarly, in France, the liquor law rests upon the decree of 1851, but public opinion is turning against the absolute discretion reposed in the administrative authority, and the law pro posed by M. de Gaste and approved of by the chamber of deputies on 22d March 1878 will probably lead to a system of greater freedom. In the German empire the various states are still permitted by a law of the confederation, dated 21st June 1869, to restrict the issue of licences to what the public seem to require, but except in Wurteni- berg this permission seems not to have been used. In Austria the rapid growth of drunkenness in Galicia made necessary the severe police law of 19th July 1877, but in other parts of the empire the exceptionally lenient law of 20th December 1859 seems to be considered sufficient. In the midst of so many fluctuations of opinion, the practical questions of legislation must be decided on general principles and not by experimental evidence. Those who speak and write on the reform of the liquor laws are divided into two great classes (1) the nephalists, who consider alcohol, in every form, whether in distilled or in fermented liquors, to be poison, and therefore wish the sale of it to be entirely suppressed ; (2) those who see no objection to moderate drinking, especially of the less alcoholic beverages, or at least regard the idea of suppres sion as an impracticable chimsera. In the United Kingdom the nephalists are at present agitating for Sir Wilfrid Lawson s Permissive Bill, which has latterly taken the form of a local option resolution. This means that in each burgh or parish two-thirds of the ratepayers may decide that no licences shall be given, a vote to be taken on the subject every three years. On 17th March 1879 the select committee of the House of Lords on intemperance reported emphatically against the scheme of the Permissive Bill. The committee did not examine witnesses from the United States with respect to the experiments in prohibi tion which have been made there on a large scale ; but it is generally admitted that the Maine Liquor Law has succeeded only in villages and rural districts; in towns it has failed. So also the Michigan Law, prohibiting the sale of liquor except for medicinal or mechanical purposes, was condemned after twenty years experience ; and in 1875 a licence tax was imposed on dealers in liquor. The result is the same under those celebrated &quot;local option laws &quot; which are in force in some of the United States. These laws pro ceed from the legislatures of the various States. They sometimes take the form of a general prohibition of the sale of intoxicants,