SUGARS. 107 



the point of making honey, and storing it in the comb, without 

 the mediation of the bee : therefore we can now dispense 

 with its services. By aj)propriate machinery a nice-looking 

 comb is made out of paraffine, the cells being filled with 

 glucose-sirup ; and this factitious honey is warranted true 

 white-clover honey from Vermont. 



The beautiful clear white sirups found on our breakfast- 

 tables, and used as an agreeable adjunct to our waffles and 

 buckwheats, are largely composed of glucose. A mixture 

 of true " sugarhouse " sirup with glucose-sirup, in propor- 

 tions of five or ten per cent of the former to ninety or 

 ninety-five per cent of the latter, constitutes the high-priced 

 " maple-drip " of the grocers. A Western chemist reports 

 the results of recent analyses, in which adulterations amount- 

 ing to from five to fifteen per cent of glucose were found in 

 various popular brands of sugars. 



In this brief consideration of the nature and uses of a 

 comparatively new article of manufacture, the astonishing 

 fact is disclosed, that this year more than twelve million 

 bushels of corn have been manipulated to produce an article 

 employed almost exclusively as an adulterant to one of the 

 most common and important constituents of food. It is a 

 reprehensible form of fraud, and should be arrested by laws 

 similar to those which govern the sale of the " oleomarga- 

 rine " compounds. Every package of this sugar should be 

 stamped glucose, and sold as such ; and every mixture made 

 with it should be accompanied with a statement, stamped 

 upon the vessels which hold it, giving the exact percentage 

 of glucose contained in the adulterated sugar or sirup. A 

 law similar to that which is found on our statute books, 

 regulating the sale of fertilizing compounds, would be effec- 

 tive, if energetically enforced. The loss to purchasers in 

 the glucose-sirups is enormous, as the quantity required to 

 sweeten substances is at least twice as great as when cane- 

 sugar is employed ; and the use of this quantity of the agent 

 renders it deleterious to health. The attractive appearance 

 of the sirups, which are white and clear, gives them a wide 

 sale at high prices ; and all consumers of sweets in the coun- 

 try are victims to a form of fraud which deserves the prompt 

 attention of our law-makers. 



The Board adjourned to Wednesday morning. 



