The bitter contained in porter, if taken wholly from hops, would require an average quantity of ten or twelve pounds to the quarter of malt, or about three pounds per barrel; so that if we consider the fluctuation in the price of hops, we shall not be surprised at the numerous substitutes, by which means the brewer can procure as much bitter for sixpence as would otherwise cost him a pound.
Quassia is, probably, the most harmless of all the illegal bitters. The physicians prescribe the decoction to their patients to the extent of a quarter of an ounce of the bark a day—as much as the brewer was accustomed to put into nine gallons of his porter.—Library of Useful Knowledge.
Black Game
Have increased greatly in the southern counties of Scotland and north of England within the last few years. It is a pretty general opinion, though an erroneous one, that they drive away the red grouse; the two species require very different kinds of cover, and will never interfere.—Note to White's Selborne, by Sir W. Jardine.
Birds of Prey.
All birds of prey are capable of sustaining the want of food and water for long periods, particularly the latter, but of which they also seem remarkably fond, drinking frequently in a state of nature, and during summer washing almost daily.—Ibid.
Egypt.
M. Champollion, in one of his recent letters, tells us that the whole of the island of Elephantina would hardly make a park fit for a good citizen of Paris, although certain modern chronologists would fain make it into a kingdom, in order to dispose of the ancient Egyptian dynasty of the Elephantines.
In another letter dated March last, he says, "Our establishment is in the Valley of Kings, which may truly be called the abode of death, as not a blade of grass is to be found in it, nor any living creature, except the jackall and hyæna, which the night before last devoured, at the distance of 100 steps from our palace, the ass which had carried my Barabra servant Mahomet, during the time that he was agreeably passing the night of the Ramadan in our kitchen, which is in a royal tomb, entirely dilapidated."—Translated in the Literary Gazette.