326 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Recommendations. The study of ll ffect of preservatives on the 



albumin of milk and methods of detecting renovated butters is to be 

 continued, and the referee was requested to study also methods for 

 determining sugars in condensed milk and milk powders. 



SUGAR. 



The report of the referee, L. S. Munson, detailed the efforts to 

 secure the cooperation of the association with the committee of the 

 International Commission for Unifying Methods of Sugar Analysis, 

 having- under consideration the revision of methods for reducing 

 sugars. The International Commission meets in Rome in 1900, at 

 which time the question will be taken up; and the referee expressed 

 his opinion that the efforts of the association in this line of work dur- 

 ing the next coming years might well be directed to this problem. 



A report on Special Analytical Methods of Sugar Analysis, by 

 C. A. Browne, jr., associate referee, dealt with (1) the determination 

 of levulose in the presence of dextrose and sucrose, and (2) the nature 

 of various gums found in sugar-cane products. The work reported 

 under the first part led to the conclusion that neither the optical nor 

 the combination method for the determination of levulose, as they 

 stand at present, is as exact as the polariscopic determination of 

 sucrose, although both methods give a fairly close approximation. It 

 was recommended that succeeding referees undertake the perfection 

 of a method for the determination of levulose and dextrose in the pres- 

 ence of sucrose. 



A study of the various gums occurring in sugar-cane products, car- 

 ried out by Dr. Browne at the Louisiana Sugar Station, has led to the 

 finding of a series of gums which may be divided into two classes. 

 The first class contains gum products derived naturally from the hemi- 

 celluloses of the cane fiber, and includes xylan, araban, and traces of 

 galactan. The amount of these gums which passes into the juice, sirup, 

 and molasses varies according to the pressure of the rollers, the degree 

 of maceration which the cane receives during milling, and the variety 

 of the cane. The second class of gums do not occur naturally in the 

 cane, but are the result of fermentation processes which set in either 

 before or after the expression of the juice. Dextran, cellulan, man- 

 nan, levulan, and levan are examples of such fermentation gums. The 

 properties of the gums of the tw r o classes enumerated above were 

 described, and it was noted that other gums of an unknown character 

 which have been separated from cane molasses are undergoing identi- 

 fication. 



A report on methods for the analysis of molasses, by H. E. Sawyer, 

 associate referee, described briefly the work done, which is to be pub- 

 lished later; and J. E. Halligan presented a paper on Analyses of 



