THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



193 



wooden vat and 80 lbs. of sulpluiric acid are 

 added to the water and tlie wliole is lieated 

 to boiling point by steam conveyed through 

 tlie vat by pipes of lead. To this mixture 

 of water and acid 200 lbs. of starch, dissolv- 

 ed in 23 jiallons of water, are f>radually 

 added, and the boiling is continued till the 

 whole is converted into a sweet syrup. The 

 steam is now sliut off and clialk is added to 

 neutralize the acid, but if too little is used 

 free sulphuric acid will be left in the con- 

 tents of vat. Most of the lime settles to the 

 bottom of the vat. Tlie clear liquid is now 

 drawn off and evaporated by steam, till the 

 syrup is of the proper density. 



Iron steam pipes are probably used in 

 this country, as most of the glucose we see 

 here is tinctured with copperas, caused by 

 the dissolving of the iron by the sulphuric 

 acid. The difficulty with this plan of nuik- 

 Ing sweets is that the sulphuric acid and the 

 lime and the copperas cannot be entirely 

 removed. Even if the chemical tests for 

 those substances fail to detect them, they 

 are still combined with the sugar of the 

 syrup. Says Dr. Kedzie: "Sugar will com- 

 bine with lime, oxide of lead, oxide of iron, 

 and sulphuric acid, and form a compound 

 acid, which comports itself very differently 

 from simple sulphuric acid. Glucose," he 

 adds, " will also tnus combine with these 

 substances." Now " sulphuric acid is a 

 powerful corrosive poison, acting instantly 

 on the throat and stomach, causing intense 

 agony and death," and you all know wliat 

 lime and copperas are. Now the testimony 

 of the best chemical authority is, that with 

 the utmost skill of the manufacturers, glu- 

 cose must still contain traces of these 

 poisons. Glucose can be made to look 

 almost exactly like honey. It mixes freely 

 with it and takes the flavor of the honey 

 readily, so it is ditticult to detect its pres- 

 ence by taste or smell or appearance. 



The best test of the purity of honey yet 

 known, and some writers say it is infallible, 

 is this: perfectly pure honey will sooner or 

 later granulate or become candied. So I 

 would say to honey consumers, beware of 

 honey put up in fancy jars, which is in a 

 liquid state, ten chances to one it is adul- 

 terated with glucose. All this refers to 

 extracted honey, or honey separated from 

 the honey-comb. But if you would be per- 

 fectly safe then get honey in the comb with 

 its royal cells yet unbroken. But you may 

 say that comb honey is dear, and as we can 

 find no other with the grocers that fills the 

 bill as to purity, and as you must have 

 something tor your buckwheat cakes, you 

 buy the sugar syrups. Are you any better 

 off ? Do you suppose that if one set of 

 scamps found out that glucose was a first- 

 class article for the adulteration of honey, 

 another set would not discover that it was 

 equally useful to doctor sugar syrups ? If 

 you do, I can tell you that you are very 

 much mistaKen. I have here befoi'e you 

 several samples of these syrups, which I 

 have tested with the proper chemicals, as 

 given by the best chemists, and the label on 

 each sample gives the true results. I invite 

 you to examine them. And write on this 

 subject, and as closely pertaining to it, I 

 will add a few words in regard to the adul- 

 teration of sugai\ I have not given this the 

 same investigation that I have the adulter- 

 ation of honey and syrups, so I do not speak 

 so positively. But L will give the process 

 of refuiing as I find it in the new American 



Encyclopedia. After reading this I think 

 you will agree with me that sugar may at 

 best be regarded with suspision. 



Refining sugar as formerly practiced was 

 to add to the boiling sugar bullocks' blood, 

 which coagulated and rose to the top. bring- 

 ing the impurities with it, and all was 

 skimmed off. This cleansed syrup was 

 then strained through closely-woven bags 

 and filtered through deep filters of animal 

 charcoal, after which it was reduced by 

 boiling. This produced pure refined sugar. 

 The new way is to add to the syrup a solu- 

 tion of basic acetate of lead for pi-ecipita- 

 ting the coloring and foreign matters. The 

 excess of lead is rendered insoluble by the 

 use of sulphurous acid gas, and the excess 

 of this gas is removed by boiling. By this 

 process the use of strainers and the expen- 

 sive animal charcoal are dispensed with. 

 " But," adds the writer, " the treatment of 

 the juice, with a poisonous salt of lead, 

 should only be intrusted to persons of 

 chemical skill." Just so ! The fact is that 

 almost all we eat or drink or wear is adul- 

 terated. The light which m.odern chemistry 

 has thrown upon the constituents of foods 

 and drinks is taken advantage of by dis- 

 honest persons to their own advantage, and 

 as a consequence the cheating and im- 



Eoverishing of consumers. I think it is to 

 e regretted that we have no sufficient law 

 in this country to punish such adulteration 

 of human food. The poor man is especially 

 at the mercy of those dishonest men. He 

 understands little if anything of chemisti'y, 

 and if he did he could not bear the expense 

 of the proper chemical tests to detect those 

 inrpurities. 



iii Eui'opean countries, especially France, 

 they have a different system. In that coun- 

 try "if any one is convicted of having 

 mixed other substances with an article sold 

 as pure, even when those substances are 

 unobnoxious, the product is destroyed and 

 the adulterator heavily fined." Says the 

 same authority: " I have seen 40 barrels of 

 wine poured into the street gutter because 

 the dealer had mixed with his wine apple 

 juice, sugar, and tartaric acid, to increase 

 its quantity; yet this wine was very good- 

 good for the health also. But the fault was, 

 it was sold as pure wine, and the dealer was 

 cheating the public and damaging tlie wine 

 producers." 



The only remedy is for consumers to 

 learn these dishonest tricks and demand for 

 their hard-earned dollars the full equivalent 

 in perfect goods. If we cannot do this let 

 us return to first principles, and either 

 make our own sugar ancl raise our own 

 honey or buy of those at home, whom we 

 know have the pure article for sale. The 

 grand old maples of our forest yield their 

 aniuial supply of precious sweets, and the 

 busy bee as she goes and comes in ceaseless 

 toil ever sings the words: 



"Not to myself alone 

 The heavy-laden bee dotli murmurina: hum. 

 Not to myself alone, fi-om flower to Hower 

 I rove the woods, the jzarden, and the bower. 

 And to the hive at evening weary come; 

 For man, for man, the precious food to pile 



with busy care, 

 Content il he repays my ceaseless toil with 



scanty share." 



J. TOMLINSON. 



gW Several articles prepared for this is- 

 sue are crowded out for want of room. 



