Note 9 — THE NARCOTICS WE INDULGE IN.[1][2]

Ale was the name given to unhopped malt liquor before the use of hops was introduced. When hops were added, it was called beer, by way of distinction, I suppose, because we imported the custom from the Low Countries, where the word beer was, and is still, in common use. Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), called also alehoof and tunhoof, was generally employed for preserving ale before the use of hops was known. “The manifold virtues in hops,” says Gerard in 1596, “do manifestly argue the holesomeness of beere above ale, for the hops rather make it physicall drink to keep the body in health, than an ordinary drink for the quenching of our thirst.”