REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. 



205 



RA^ailable for the use of interested parties in their respective terri- 

 torie.s. Twc parties are engaged in demonstration work on improved 

 methods of producing naval stores in the turpentine-producing 

 States. The present methods of prochiction are so crude and waste- 

 ful that there is much need for this type of work. 



ENFORCEMENT OF THE FOOD AND DRUGS ACT. 



Domestic foods and drugs. — The enforcement of the Federal Food 

 and Drugs Act constitutes by fj^' the largest part of the work of the 

 Bureau of Chemistry. While the extent of the Bureau's activities in 

 this direction can only be partially indicated in a statistical way, a 

 few statistics may be of value. The records show that 371 recom- 

 mendations for seizure and 719 recommendations for criminal prose- 

 cution were made through the offices of the Solicitor and of the Sec- 

 retary to the Department of Justice. There were collected 5,649 offi- 

 cial and 2,171 informal samples. The number of official samples 

 analyzed by the field force in the laboratories is given in Table I, 

 but this table does not include thousands of examinations made in 

 the field, such as the candling of suspected shipments of eggs or the 

 critical inspection of consignments of wormy or decomposed nuts. 



Table I. — Report of branch laboratories for year ended June 30, 1917. 



The Service and Regulatory Announcements published during 

 the year contained 30 opinions and 500 notices of judgment. There 

 were also issued Food Inspection Decision 168, amending paragraph 



