EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XV. June, 1904. No. 10. 



An important phase of food and feeding stuff inspection is the deter- 

 mination of the nature of adulteration. The kind of materials em- 

 ployed as adulterants, and the extent to which foreign materials may 

 occur naturally as impurities or are purposely admixed in the process 

 of manufacture or preparation, is often of quite as much interest as 

 the composition of the inspected products with reference to an accepted 

 standard. While ordinarily harmless themselves, these materials are 

 not selected on account of their healthf ulness and are usually a dead 

 weight, serving no useful purpose to the consumer. A knowledge of 

 their general character and the means of detecting them strengthens 

 the hands of those charged with the inspection, and aids in providing 

 efficient laws to enable their control. 



The materials employed as adulterants change from time to time, 

 and are often of such a nature as to make their detection quite diffi- 

 cult. This is heightened by the variety of materials emplo^-ed, b}^ 

 special preparation which alters their true character, and l)y the unex- 

 pectedness of their use. While some of them can be detected by 

 chemical means, a large proportion require the use of the microscope, 

 and for this purpose a knowledge of the anatomy and structure of a 

 great variety of seeds and other parts of vegetable products, as well 

 as of the food products themselves, is of the highest importance. 



The histological studies which have been carried on for several years 

 past b}^ Mr. A. L. Winton, of the Connecticut State Station, consti- 

 tute the most extensive and thorough investigations of the kind which 

 have been reported in this country, and are worth}' of special com- 

 mendation both on account of their high character and their wide 

 application. As furnishing a basis for the identification of admixed 

 materials and studies of the nature of adulteration they are funda- 

 mental, and form a most important contribution to the development of 

 food inspection work. 



Mr. Winton's work in this line began several years ago at the Phar- 

 macological Institute of the University of Gratz, Austria, under Prof. 

 Josef Mollcr, who has given nuich attention to investigation of this 

 character. The anatomy of the maize col) was studied with a view to 

 the detection of gi-ound cobs in wheat and rye ))ran. It soon became 

 apparent that Euro])ean investigators, who have accunudated the bulk 

 of the information available to food chemists regarding the microscopic 



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