DIATOMS— CONGER 343 



the cargo and sharing in the profits accruing therefrom. Placing de- 

 tectives on the boats was of no avail, because the work might be car- 

 ried on quietly in one part of the vessel while they were in another, or 

 while they slept, or what was more likely, would be entirely omitted 

 when there was the slightest suspicion of spying on the part of any 

 member of the crew. To measure or weigh the amount of molasses at 

 the time of loading and check it again at the time of delivery was 

 entirely too costly and troublesome. 



The natural thing under these circumstances was to turn to chemi- 

 cal analysis as a means of detecting the adulteration, on the probable 

 assumption that addition of sea water to the molasses would add some 

 element not otherwise present, or in such proportions as were not nor- 

 mally found, in the molasses. To this end several years were spent in 

 devising methods and making exhaustive analyses of sea water, mo- 

 lasses, and of samples of the combination, even to determination of 

 such rarer elements as might more probably be expected to be present 

 in the one and not in the other, such as iodine, bromine, boron, manga- 

 nese, and others, but all such analyses proved futile. Every element 

 that was to be found in sea water was also found present in molasses, 

 and further the composition of the latter is so highly variable that the 

 addition of sea water did not change appreciably the proportion in 

 which the elements occurred. Thus, after a considerable expenditure 

 of time and energy, all of these methods proved useless. 



Nor could the thickness or viscosity of the gi^eatly diluted molasses 

 be relied upon as a criterion, for as everyone knows from the classical 

 saying "As thick as molasses in January", this material is the pro- 

 verbial standard of fluid mobility, and its viscosity is exceedingly vari- 

 able depending upon the natural amount of water it contains and also 

 upon the temperature. 



Chemical analysis and determination of the viscosity of the diluted 

 molasses having failed, the hope of finding some readily recognizable 

 and specific thing in sea water which was not in molasses finally sug- 

 gested to one of the men conducting the investigation the thought of 

 some organism, which happy idea soon resolved itself to consideration 

 of the diatom. Here, theoretically, should be the ideal solution. 

 First, here was an organism never normally present in molasses but 

 always present in countless numbers in every quart of sea water, so 

 that it must inevitably be added to the molasses upon dilution of the 

 latter. Second, here was an organism unknown to most people, or, 

 even if a captain should happen to be so well informed as to have 

 full knowledge of these organisms, there would be no possible way 

 to add the sea water and exclude the diatoms. They are so small 

 that they would pass through any pump; and if an attempt were 

 made to strain them out, they would soon clog the sieve and prevent 



