Besides the four elements known to us as such, namely, air, fire, earth,
and water, there is a liquid substance not entirely unknown in our
country, which, in the kingdom of Bavaria, is sometimes called the fifth
element, under the specific name of beer. It is true, that, where this
extra element is in such repute, some of the others suffer depreciation,
and especially is this true of water, though this latter is still
occasionally used both as a beverage and in purifying processes; and
there is, too, a tradition, which these inland people have little
opportunity of verifying, that it has sometimes been exclusively used
for purposes of navigation, and they are aware, that, if at any time
they should decide to emigrate to America, they might have occasion to
test on a large scale both its utility and its perils for this purpose.
The centre of gravity of this fifth element seems to be in the city of
Munich, the capital of the kingdom. People in this country who have
heard much of lager-beer, and seen a little of its use as introduced
into our land from Germany, may, perhaps, suppose that it is equally
distributed over all that extensive region known by this name.
Pages:
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156