H. L. Mencken's, "The American Language, pp 162." has the following treatment for insomnia. -- The first English colonist brought with them a "hop-pillow". Hop is the common name of the Humulus lupulus, which in English folklore, has long been held to have a soporific effect. That is, a sleep inducer. Having noticed that as people grow older, they have more difficulty sleeping, I wondered how much attention had been paid by the medical profession to this effect. So armed with a small library of books on herbs, I ventured forth to see what was to be. (The Internet provided little of interest, other than a place to buy hops.)
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. Library of Universal Knowledge, (a reprint of the last (1880) Edinburgh and London Edition of Chambers's Encyclopedia) American Book Exchange, New York, 1880.
The two oldest books in my collection which mentioned hops were Burton's, "The Anatomy of Melancholy" and Culpeper's, " Complete Herbal" both written in the time of Shakespeare and Cervantes. You see as the calendar moves forward, herbs which included hops, became less prescribed for a wide range of maladies and attention began to be focused more on specific effects. This is best illustrated in Rafinesque's two volume series on medical botany. He points out at first the many afflictions treated with hops and then diminishes the value of the treatment for most of them, concluding that hops were a worthy addition to beer and also had some beneficial health effects as well, in particular in treating sleeplessness.
There is a gap, not necessarily that books were not written concerning medicine, but that reprints have not become available, and perhaps never will as the publishing of books increased to the point that many older books are available and the number written reduces the importance of any particular one. Also as the Colonies were a separate entity from the Old World, obtaining books became a more difficult task if they were not published in America. A few well stocked libraries existed, as example in John Bartram's Philadelphia, &c., but the general public passed through a drought of knowledge.
Finally at the beginning of the nineteenth century, book publishing began in earnest in the United States and continues today. So, if one list books in my collection, chronologically, the progressive thought regarding hops as a sleep inducer, i.e., soporific, can be evaluated. Following are direct quotes from the books. At the end of this listing are brief comments (mine only).
To purge and purify the blood, use sowthistle, succory, senna, endive, carduus benedictus, dandelion, hop, maidenhair, fumitory, bugloss, borage, &c., with their juice, decoctions, distilled waters, syrups, &c.
The Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton (Democritus Junior), William Tegg & Co. London, 1652, pp 459.
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Descrip. The Hop runs to a great height, climbing up, and twisting round the poles which are placed for its support; the branches are rough and hairy, being large, rough, vine-like leaves, divided into three parts, serrated about the edges. On the tops of the stalks, grow clusters of large loose, scaly heads, of a pale greenish yellow colour when ripe, and a pretty strong smell.
Place. The manured hops are cultivated in gardens; the wild are found frequently in hedges.
Time. They are ripe in September.
Government and Virtues. It is under the dominion of Mars. This will open obstructions of the liver and spleen, cleanse the blood, loosen the belly, cleanse the reins(veins?) from gravel, and provoke urine. The decoction of the tops cleanses the blood, cures the venereal disease, and all kinds of scabs, itch, and other breakings out of the body; as also tetters, ringworms, spreading sores, the morphew, and all discolourings of the skin. The decoction of the flowers and tops help to expel poison. Half a dram of the seed in powder, taken in drink, kills worms in the body, brings down womens' courses, and expels urine. A syrup made of the juice and sugar, cures the yellow jaundice, eases the head-ache that comes of heat, and tempers the heat of the liver and stomach, and is profitable given in long and hot agues that arise from choler and blood. The young hop sprouts, which appear in March and April being mild, if boiled and served up like asparagus, are a very wholesome as well as a pleasant tasted spring food. They purify the blood, and keep the body gently open.
Culpeper's Complete Herbal: consisting of a comprehensive description of nearly all herbs with their medicinal properties and directions for compounding the medicines extracted from them, Nich. Culpeper, W. Foulsham & Co., Ltd. London, 1653.
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Authorites Lin. Pursh, Nuttal, A. Ives, Schoepf, Treaks, Bryorly, Bigsby, many Dispens. Alibert, Coxe, Eberle, Maton, Roches, Zollickoffer, Bigelow, Fig. 60 and Seq.
Genus Humulus Dioical, Staminate flowers with a five leaved perigone, Stamina five, anthers bipore. Pistilate flowers strobilate: bracts biflore, perigone one leaved, persistent entire, concave, involute, One pistel; two styles, one seed.
Species H. Lupulus Stem twining and rough, leaves opposite, petiolate, cordate, three or five lobed, acute, sharply serrate, rough; staminate flowers panicled, fertile strobiles axillary peduncled.
Description Root perennial. Stem annual, forming a climbing vine, twining from right to left, angular, rough with minute reflexed prickles. Leaves opposite, petiols crooked, smaller and floral leaves cordate, aeuminate, serrate; the main leaves nearly palmate, trilobe, sometimes five lobe; lobe large, oval acute, sharply serrate; sinusses obtuse, without teeth; surface very rough with three main nerves and many veins.
Flowers numerous and greenish. The staminate on different individuals, forming axillary panicles, with two or four bracts, reflexed, opposite, petiolate, oval; each flower peduncled. Perigone caliciform, and five oblong obtuse concave and spreading sepals; five stamina, filaments short, anthers oblong, opening by two terminal pores. Pistilate flowers forming oval, opposite, axillary, drooping and peduncled strobiles or cones. Scales imbricate, oval, acute, tubular at the base, each covering two sessile flowers. Perigone (Corolla of Linnaeus) shorter than the scales, lateral, oval obtuse, infolding the pistil by the edges. Germen rounded, compressed, two short styles, two long subulate and downy stigmas. Each flower produces a single round seed.
Locality Native of Europe and America, and cultivated also in both continents. Schoepf found it wild in Virginia, Nuttal on the Missouri, and I have seen it spontaneous from New York to Kentucky in groves, thickets, coppices and banks of streams.
History This vine is ornamental and useful. It is extensively cultivated wherever malt liquors are used, and forms a profitable branch of agriculture. The fertile plants alone are raised, since the medical and economical parts are the strobiles of the seeds. The young shoots, when emerging from the ground, are eaten like Asparagus in Italy and Germany. The fibres of the vine are also made into coarse cloth in Sweden and England. The blossoms appear in the summer, and although uncolored are not devoid of elegance.
Humulus belongs to the Natural Order Scabrides or Urticides, and to Dioecia pentandria. It has but this species, both names are ancient.
Qualities The whole plant, but particularly the strobiles have a fragrant sub-narcotic smell, and a bitter, astringent, aromatic taste. A. Ives has shown that this taste and smell reside in a fine impalpable yellow powder, sprinkled over the fertile plants, and chiefly on the strobiles, which may be separated by threshing and sifting. This powder has been called Lupulin, although it is not a proximate principle, but a dry secretion from the plant, and a compound substance containing the active principles and properties. The Lupulin contains out of 120 parts, 46 of lignin, 36 resin, 12 wax, 11 amarina, 10 extractive, 5 tannin, besides two percent of a singular essential oil, very volatile, partly soluble in water, very acrid, and having the narcotic smell of the Hop. The Lupulin is very inflammable, it becomes soft and adhesive by handling; the strobiles contains one-sixth of their weight of it, and it may be available in brewing like the hops; one pound being equal to six pounds of hops.
Properties The whole plant, but chiefly the Strobiles and the Lupulin are tonic, narcotic, phantastie, anodyne, sedative, alternative, astringent, antilithic, diuretic, corroborant, &c. The strobiles or hops have long been an ingredient of porter, ale and other malt liquors, to which they impart a bitter and aromatic flavor, besides a small share of their properties; but by the habitual use of these liquors all the good effects are destroyed. The hop-beer made with molasses, hops and yeast, is a better liquor still, and an agreeable, refreshing, tonic beverage.
As a medicinal article hops have been praised by many physicians, and employed in Nephritis, Gravel, Gout, Phrenitis, Alopecia, Luxations, articular Rheumatism, Dyspepsia, Scrophula, Rachitis, Eresypelas, Debility, Strangury, Hysteric and Nervous complaints, Cancer, &c. As a tonic, stomachic and corroborant, they are available in diseases depending on the debility or a loss of tone in the stomach; but their powers are weak in this as well as all the other properties ascribed to them, which however, may render them useful when mild treatments are required. As a narcotic and sedative they operate mildly, and are often preferable to opium: they induce sleep without producing the bad effects of opium. Even the external application of hops, produces the same effect, and a pillow of hops is a popular mode of promoting sleep. Poultices and fomentations of hops are common applications for painful swellings. Their antilithic and diuretic property is questionable, they can at utmost act as palliative, and are sometimes injurious; but available in the strangury produced by Cantharides. Besides allaying pain and producing sleep, hops have been found to reduce pulsations from 96 to 60, while rendering the pulse more firm. They are useful in the weakness and watchfulness of hysteric patients. An ointment of hops is a palliative in the last stage of Cancer. They are said to act as antiseptic and corroborant in bowel complaints. Some physicians consider them as general alterative of the system. Schoepf mentions the seeds as used in Obstipation (perhaps constipation). Zollickoffer has used the flowers to relieve the pains after parturition.
Many preparations are made with them; the tincture and extract of hops were formerly most used. Now the pills, syrup, infusion, tincture, extract and ointment of Lupulin are employed. Boiling water and alcohol dissolve the Lupulin. The doses must be small and gradually increased, beginning with one grain of Lupulin, four of the extract, a teaspoonful of the tincture, or two ounces of the infusion. An overdose produces sore throat, nausea, purging, tremor, headache, [can't read word].
Substitutes The mild aromatic tonics and narcotics; but none are similar, nor combine the same number of properties, the Lycopus virginicus alone comes nearest to it.
Remarks The malt liquors brewed in the United States, instead of being a wholesome beverage, are often rendered deleterious by the substitution or addition of bitter and narcotic ingredients; the harmless substitutes of Hops are, Liquorice, Wormwood, Quassia, Teucrium Virginicum, &c. but Datura Stramonium, Cocculus, Aloe, &c. that have been added in Pittsburg and elsewhere, are dangerous, pernicious or useless ingredients.
Medical Flora; or Manual of the Medical Botany of the United States of North
America, C. S. Rafinesque,
Atkinson and Alexander, Philadephia, 1828.
(N.B. Constantine S. Rafinesque is one of the great naturalist of the
nineteenth century. A contemporary of James Audubon, Rafinesque published
extensively. Often criticized for his outpouring of opinion on most every
subject, he remains an enigma -- how could one man do so much.)
****
The dried catkins of the female plant, cultivated in England. Scales of a greenish-yellow color, with an adherent golden-yellow powder (Lupuline) at their base; odor aromatic, taste bitter.
Description -- The strobiles of the hop, in commerce termed hops, consist of scales, nuts, and impuline glands or grains. The scales are enlarged and persistent bracts, which inclose the nuts; they are ovate, membranous, and at their base glandular. The nuts, or achenes, are covered with aromatic, superficial, globuose glands. These lupulinic glands or grains (commonly termed yellow powder or lupine) are the most important parts of the strobiles. They are rounded, of a cellular texture, golden-yellow, and somewhat transparent. They are sessile, or nearly so. The common centre, around which the cells are arranged, has been called the hilum. By drying, they lose their spherical form. Placed in water they give out an immense number of minute globules. Under other, circumstances they become ruptured, and allow an inner envelope to escape.
Composition -- According to Payen, the lupulinic grains contain two percent of a volatile oil, 10.30 of bitter principle, and 50 to 55 of resin. The scales also contain tannin . Volatile Oil of Hops resides in the lupine grains. It is obtained by submitting these, or hops which contain them, to distillation with water. Its color is yellowish, its odor that of hops, its taste acrid. It is soluble in water, but still more so in alcohol and ether. Its specific gravity is 0.910. By keeping, it becomes resinified. It is said to act on the system as a narcotic. The water which comes over, in distillation, with the oil, contains acetate of ammonia, and blackens silver, from which circumstance the presence of sulphur is inferred. Bitter Principle of Hops, Lupulite, is procured by treating the aqueous extract of lupulinic grains, united with a little lime, with alcohol. The alcoholic tincture is to be evaporated to dryness, the residue treated with water, and the solution evaporated. The residue, when washed with ether, is lupulite. It is neutral, uncrystallizable, yellowish-white, very bitter, soluble in twenty parts of water, very soluble in alcohol, and slightly so in ether. The aqueous solution froths by agitation; it forms no precipitate with either tincture of galls or acetate of lead. Lupulite contains no nitrogen. It is devoid of the narcotic property of the oil. Tannic Acid, Tannin. ^� In the manufacture of beer, this principle precipitates the nitrogenized or albuminous matter of the barley, and therefore serves for clarification. All genuine beer, however, contains tannic acid. The resin is of a golden yellow color, and becomes orange-yellow by exposure to the air. It is soluble in both alcohol and ether. It appears to be the oil changed into resin, partly by oidizement. A decoction of hops reddens litmus, owing to the presence of free acid, sulphuric acid having been formed in the common process of drying hops with the vapor of burning sulphur mixed with coke or charcoal. Perchloride of iron strikes an olive-green color (tannate of iron). A solution of gelatin renders the filtered decoction turbid (tannate of gelatin).
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.
Therapeutics -- A pillow of hops is occasionally employed in mania and other cases in which inquietude and restlessness prevail, and in which the use of opium is considered objectionable. In hop countries it is a popular remedy for want of sleep. The benefit said to have been obtained from it by George III., for whom it was prescribed by Dr. Willis, in 1787, brought it into general use. Hops are given internally to relieve restlessness consequent upon exhaustion and fatigue, and to induce sleep in the watchfulness of mania and other maladies; to calm nervous irritation, and to relieve pain in grout, arthritic rheumatism, and after accouchement. Though they sometimes produce the desired effect, they frequently fail to give relief. Dr. Maton used it, with good effect, as an anodyne in rheumatism. As a tonic, hops are applicable in dyspepsia. [Dr. J. R. Farre found both the tincture and extract very useful in gouty spasm of the stomach. ^� Ed.]
Administration -- The Yellow Powder, Lupulinic Grains, or Lupuline, separated from the strobiles by rubbing and sifting, may be taken in the form of powder or pills. This is the best preparation of hops for internal use. Dose. Gr. vj to gr. xij.
Extraction of Lupuli, Extract of Hop, -- Take of hop, one pound; rectified spirit, one pint and a half; distilled water, one gallon, Macerate the hop in the spirit for seven days, press out the tincture, filter, and distill off the spirit, leaving a soft extract. Boil the residual hop with water for one hour, then express the liquor, strain, and evaporate by a water-bath to a consistency of a soft extract. Mix the two extracts, and evaporate at a temperature not exceeding 140 degrees to a proper consistency.
This extract differs from the London and Edinburgh extracts in being prepared with spirit as well as with water. Hence it will contain the resin as well as the bitter principle and some of the volatile oil. Dose --Gr. v to gr. xx.
Infusum Lupuli, Infusion of Hop (Infusum Humuli, U.S., Infusion of Hops). Take of hop, half an ounce,; boiling distilled water, ten fluid ounces. Infuse in a covered vessel, for two hours, and strain.
The quantity of hop is a little increased in the present infusion, and the time of infusion diminished. [Take of hops, have a troy ounce; boiling water, a pint. Macerate for two hours in a covered vessel and strain.' U.S.] Dose -- Fl. oz. j to fl.oz. ij.
Tinctura Lupuli, Tincture of Hop (Tinctura Humuli, U. S., Tincture of Hops). -- Take of hop, two ounces and ha half; proof spirit, one pint. Macerate the hop for forty-eight hours with fifteen ounces of the spirit, in a close vessel, agitating occasionally; then transfer to a percolator, and when the fluid ceases to pass, pour into the percolator the remaining five ounces of the spirit. As soon as the percolation is completed, subject the contents of the percolator to pressure, filter the product, mix the two liquids, and add sufficient proof spirit to make one pint. ["Take of hops, in moderately coarse powder, five troy ounces; diluted alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Moisten the powder with two fluidounces of diluted alcohol, pack it very firmly in a cylindrical percolator, and gradually pour diluted alcohol upon it until two pints of tincture are obtained." U. S.]
[Preparations of Lupulin -- As all of the active properties of hops reside in the lupulin, and as the amount of the latter in hops varies very much, the preparations of lupulin itself are very much more certain, less unequal than those of hops, and are therefore preferable.
Tinctura Lupulinae, U. S., Tincture of Lupulin. ^� "Take of lupulin, four troyounces; alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Pack the lupulin in a narrow cylindrical percolator, and gradually pour alcohol upon it until two pints of tincture are obtained." Dose, f3j to f3iij in sweetened or mucilaginous water.
Extractum Lupulinae Fludium, U. S., Fluid extract of Lupulin. -- "Take of lupulin, sixteen troyounces; stronger alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Introduce the lupulin into a percolator, press it firmly, and having covered it with a piece of muslin, pour upon it stronger alcohol very gradually until twelve fluidounces of tincture have passed. Set this aside in a close vessel, and continue the percolation until twenty fluidounces more of tincture have been obtained. Evaporate this, by means of a water-bath at a temperature not exceeding 150 degrees to four fluid ounces, and mix it with the reserved tincture." U.S.
A fluid ounce of this preparation represents a troy ounce of the lupulin. Dose, f3ss, best administered in syrup of gum arabic.
Oleoresina Lupulinae, U. S., Oleoresin of Lupulin. -- "Take of lupulin, twelve troy ounces; ether a sufficient quantity. Put the lupulin into a narrow cylindrical percolator, pres it firmly, and gradually pour ether upon it until thirty fluidounces of filtered liquid have passed. Recover and expose the residue, in a capsule, until the remaining ether has evaporated. Lastly, keep the oleoresin in a wide-mouthed bottle, well stopped."
Lupulin yields all its active constituents to ether. The resulting extract is dark in mass, reddish-brown in thin layers, with the odor and taste of lupulin, of a semifluid consistency, and less than half the bulk of the original lupulin. Dose, gr. iij to vj, in pill. W.]
Pereira's Materia Medica and Therapeutics, Lea, 1866.
*****
Gunn's Newest Family and Physician and Home Book of Health, 1875. (Earlier publication of this book began in the 1840's and the content changed with time. This particular volume, some 1200 pages, is missing those pages that give the publisher as well as the editor/author.)
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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.
The cultivation of the hop was introduced into England from Flanders in the time of Henry VIII., but did not become sufficient for the supply of the kingdom till the end of the 17th century. For some time after hops began to be used in brewing, a strong prejudice existed against the innovation; and parliament was petitioned against hops, as "a wicked weed, that would spoil the taste of the drink and endanger the people." About 60,000 acres are now employed in the cultivation of hops, chiefly in the counties of Kent, Sussex, Worcester, and Hants; the former counties producing the best hops in the world. Fields of hops are to be seen as far north as Nottinghamshire.
The hop requires a very rich soil, and its growth is promoted by the liberal application both of organic and mineral manures; although excessive manuring is prejudicial. It spreads rapidly underground by its roots, and is not easily extirpated where it has once been introduced. It is generally propagated by layers or cuttings, which usually grow for a year in a nursery before being planted out. In the plantations they are generally placed in groups of three or four, at distances from six to nine feet. Great care is necessary in fastening the stems to the poles when they begin to sprout, setting up any that may be blown down, etc. The stalks or bines, are taken down from the poles after the hop-picking, and cut and removed, to be used as litter or as manure, for which purposes they are excellent. The fresh bines, which are cut to prevent undue luxuriance in summer, are dried for feeding cattle, and are as good as the best clover hay.
The fiber of the stems is employed to a considerable extent in Sweden in the manufacture of a coarse kind of cloth, which is strong, whit, and durable; but the fibers are so difficult of separation that the stems require to be steeped in water for a whole winter.
The hop-plant often suffers very much, and the prospects of the farmer are destroyed by the hop-mildew, and by insect enemies, the worst of which are the hop-flea.
Library of Universal Knowledge, (a reprint of the last (1880) Edinburgh and London Edition of Chambers's Encyclopedia) American Book Exchange, New York, 1880.
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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.
The Peoples Common Sense Medical Adviser, in plain English, or Medicine Simplified., R. V. Pierce, World's Dispensary Printing Office and Bindery, Buffalo, NY, 1893.
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Hops are the dried cones which consist of scales, of the Humulus lupulus, or hop vine, a plant growing in England, northern Europe, and the United States. At the base of the scales there is a yellow powder called lupulin. The active principle of hops is a volatile oil.
When locally applied, hops relieves pain and causes redness of the skin.
When taken internally, it produces the following effects:
1. It increases the appetite and aids digestion.
2. It is soothing to the brain and lessens nervousness, and may even
produce light sleep.
3. It contracts mucous membranes.
4. It is said to increase the perspiration.
Administration
Hops are usually applied in the form of bags containing the crude hops. The bags are soaked in water and wring out, or they may be heated and used dry. They are then applied locally.
Pillows made from hops are used to induce sleep.
Preparations
Lupulin (powder) 0.3 - 1.2 Gm. Grs.v-xx
(Lupulinum)
Fluid extract of Lupulin 2.0 - 8.0 c.c. 3 � - ii
(Fluidextactum Lupulini)
Oleoresin of Lupulin 0.1 - 0.2 Gm. Grs. i � - v
Textbook of Materia Medica, Blumgarten, A. S., Macmillan Company, New York, 1931.
*****
Hop, herbaceous twining vine widely cultivated since early times for brewing purposes. The hop commonly grown is Humulus lupulus, a perennial naturalized in North America. The ripened female flowers, or hops, are conelike and are borne on different plants from the male; their large loose papery scales contain lupulin, a yellow powder added to beer to impart a bitter flavor and used medicinally as a tonic and a soporific. There is also a hop considered native the America that is similarly used. The Japanese hop is an annual ornamental vine. The fruit of the hop tree (Ptelea trifoliata) has been used as a substitute for hops. See Production of Hops (Dept. Of Agriculture Farmers' Bul, 1842)
The Columbia Encyclopedia (2nd Ed.)Columbia University Press. Morningside Heights, New York, 1950.
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Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, 1957.
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.... be warned that its scent is calming and relaxing.
Magical Aromatherapy, Cunningham, Scott, Llewellyn, (Ed. No date, probably 1980's).
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On the fruits and bases of the bracts are numerous shining glands. These, when separated, constitute the drug lupulin. The commercial product is generally very impure, owing to the fact that it is obtained by sieving the sweepings of the hop room floors. It occurs as a granular, reddish-brown powder with a characteristic odour and bitter aromatic taste.
The bracts and stipules of the hop contain tannin but the odour and taste of the drug are mainly due to the very complex secretion contained in the lupulin glands. On distillation the fruits yield 0.30 - 1.0% of an oil composed of well over 100 components and containing terpenes, sesquiterpenes and esters. The bitterness is due to crystalline phloroglucinol derivatives known as alpha acids (e.g. humulone), beta acids (e.g. lupulone) and also about 10% resins. 2,3,4- Trithiapentane, S-methylthio-2methyl butanoate, s- methylthio-4-methyl-pentanoate and 4,5-epithiocaryophyllene have been isolated from the volatile oil of unsulphurated hops. The valerian-like odour results from decomposition of the oil and one of the resins.
Hops have the properties of an aromatic bitter and are said to have a sedative action(due in part to 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol). They are mainly used in the preparation of beer.
Pharmacognosy, Trease and Evens, Saunders 1989, pp 221.
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Stedman's Medical Dictionary, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1990.
****
Description
Medicinal Parts: The medicinal parts are the glandular hairs separated from the inflorescence, the whole dried female flowers, the fresh (preferably with few seeds) cones collected before the seeds ripen and the fresh or dried female inflorescences.
Flower and Fruit: The male flowers are yellowish-greenish, inconspicuous, and about 5 mm in diameter. The female flowers are in richly blossomed, heavily branched inflorescences. The ovary, which has 2 long downy stigma, is surrounded at the base by a round compressed mutlet. A yellowish fruit cone grows from the female flower. The inside of the bracts is covered with small, gloss, light yellow glandular scales, which contain hop bitter (lupulin).
Leaves, Stem and Root: The hop plant is a perennial. The annual shoots reach a height of 6 m (12 m when cultivated). The stems are pencil-thick, green and do not turn woody. They are covered in 6 rows of climbing barbs. The leaves are 3 to 5 lobed, serrate and opposite.
Characteristics: Lupulin has a very strong odor and an extremely bitter taste.
Habitat: Indigenous to Europe, cultivated in Asia, U.S., and elsewhere.
Production: Hop cones consist of the whole dried female inflorescences of Humulus lupulus.
Action and Pharmacology
Compounds
Acylphloroglucinols (10%)
Alpha-bitter acids: including, among others, humulone, cohumulone, and adhumulone
Beta-bitter acids: including, among others, lupulone, colupulone, adlupulone
Volatile oil (0.3 -1.0%); very complex in makeup, chief components myrecene, humulene, beta-caryophyllene, undecane-2-on, furthermore 2-methyl-but-3-en-ol (particularly following storage, as breakdown product of the acylphloroglucinols)
Resins
Phenolic acid: including, among others, ferulic acid, caffeic acid and their derivatives, for example, chlorogenic acid
Tannins: oligomeric proanthocyanidines
Flavonoids: including, among others, xanthohumole
Effects
Sedative and therefore sleep inducing.
Indications and Usage
Nervousness and insomnia
Useful as a sleeping aid and for restlessness and anxiety. As a bitter or stomachic to stimulate the appetite and increase the secretion of gastric juices.
Precautions and adverse reactions
No health hazards or side effects are known in conjunction with the proper administration of designated therapeutic dosages. The fresh plant has a sensitizing effect (hop-picker's disease), which may occur, more rarely, with the dust of the drug as well.
Dosage
Mode of administration: Comminuted drug, powdered drug or dry extract powder fro infusions or decoctions or other preparations; liquid and solid preparations for internal use and externally for bath additives.
Note: combinations with other sedatives can be beneficial.
Preparation: To prepare an infusion, boiling water is poured over the ground hoop cones and left to draw for 10 to 20 minutes (1 teaspoonful = 0.4 g drug).
Daily Dosage: The single dose is 0.5 g.
Storage: Protect from light and moisture.
Literature: (An extensive literature is provided in the book. The oldest reference cited is 1968. Ed.)
PDR for Herbal Medicines, Medical Economics Company, Montvale, New Jersey, 1998.
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Our knowledge has expanded but perhaps we are now educated beyond our intelligence. Regarding plants; first the plants, preparations and use were described (Constantine Rafinesque); then an explosion as chemistry provided a base for understanding the differences between beneficial/harmful plants and the compounds which they contain, followed by the selection of those chemicals that seemed to be beneficial, followed by synthesis of those identified or of new compounds, followed by the discarding of the old for the new, followed by the reawakening that perhaps something was being overlooked in the rush to acclaim that which was new.
Such it is with the lowly hop that everyone knows about but finds their knowledge limited, mostly to making beer taste good (or different). Certainly in most of the books that are available to those that frequent "health" stores, hops are mentioned. But look to the shelves and there is no product available. Ask, and the response is, "Are you making beer?"
I believe a second look is necessary. However, caution is the word, because there is no single hop, but a multitude of varieties that are available and which by harvesting and processing techniques can vary wildly in their composition of chemicals. After all, it is the chemicals within the hop that produces the effect. Just because it's natural, doesn't make it good (or bad). So, some discretionary judgement is necessary before you risk life and limb on some supposedly beneficial substance. The Food and Drug Administration will not protect you. The store from which the product is purchased has an interest in selling products, not in your health. The producer and processor as well as the packaging firm are not in it for your health. The modern Cassandra writing on the subject has the primary object, sell books. And, of all the references cited, only Rafinesque has a listing of the undesirable side effects of using hops. Having said all this, I believe that we have overlooked a potentially beneficial plant and it should be considered more fully.
Vale
N.B. Much of the spelling found in these books is unique to their author. While an attempt has been made to reproduce it exactly as the author(s) intended, errors made are my own. jsw
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