Re: [NN]Re: stupid, really stupid question: hops

[Guest guest]

>Heidi Jean

>

>Please post the reference for the statement below that hops are narcotic.

>THis is NOT my understanding of this herb.

Sure, see the link below (has LOTS of other info about hops too). " Narcotic "

might

be one of those words with multiple defintions ... I used it in the sense of

" A substance or drug which produces drowsiness or sleep by acting on the body's

metabolism "

But it sounds from the quote below that not everyone agrees about this. They DO

put

me to sleep though.

I like your suggestions too. One way that works good for us too is to have

a " power outage " night. We pretend the electricity is off and only light

candles or use flashlights for the evening. It's amazing how sleepy you

get!

-- Heidi Jean

http://www.geocities.com/jswortham/hops.html

Physiological effects -- The odorous emanations of hops (vapor of the volatile

oil) possesses narcotic properties. Hence, a pillow of hops promotes sleep, as I

have several times witnessed. Moreover, we are told that stupor has occasionally

been induced in persons who have remained for a considerable time in hop

warehouses. The lupulinic grains are aromatic and tonic. They appear also to

possess soothing, tranquillizing, and, in a slight degree, sedative and

soporific properties. But the existence of any narcotic quality has been

strongly denied by Dr. Bigsby, Magendie, and others. Dr. Maton found that it

allayed pain, produced sleep, and reduced the frequency of the pulse from

ninety-six to sixty in twenty-four hours. Both infusion and tincture of hops are

mild but agreeable aromatic tonics. Their sedative, soporific, and anodyne

properties are very uncertain.

....

The oil of hops is sedative, anodyne, and narcotic; and hence the value of

pillows stuffed with hops in case of mania, sleeplessness, etc. The bitter

principle is not narcotic, but it is tonic. The oil and bitter principle combine

to make hops more useful than camomile, gentian, or any other bitter, in the

manufacture of beer; and hence the medicinal value of extra-hopped or bitter

beer.. The tannic acid contained in the strobiles also adds to the value of

hops, and particularly as causing the precipitation of vegetable mucilage, and

consequently the clearing of beer. The hop is first mentioned by Pliny as one of

the garden-plants of Romans, who, it appears, ate the young shoots as we eat

asparagus; and, in fact, many country people do the same at the present day. It

is a native of Europe and of some parts of Asia, a doubtful native of Britain

and of North America. It is more extensively cultivated in the s. of England

than in any part of the world, but also to a considerable extent in Germany,

France, Flanders, and southern Russia, and now successfully in North America and

in Australia and New Zealand.

This is an excellent remedy in wakefulness, and may be used when opium is

contra-indicated. A bag of the leaves, moistened with whisky and placed as a

pillow under the head, acts as an anodyne. Dose -- Of the infusion of the

leaves, from one to four ounces; of the fluid extract, one-fourth to

three-fourths of a teaspoonful; of the concentrated principle, Humulin, one to

three grains