270 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



in a communication to the French 

 Academy, show that the poison of 

 all the hymenoptera has an acid re- 

 action but that it contains also an 

 active alkaline substance. The ac- 

 tivity of the poison is conditioned on 

 the presence of both the acid and 

 alkali. The acid is always in large 

 excess and each substance is furnished 

 by a special gland. The inversion of 

 the cane sugar in the organism of the 

 bee may be due to the presence of 

 these acids. On the other hand it 

 is plain that certain species of pine 

 and some other plants furnish formic 

 acid and therefore the detection of 

 this acid in honey is not positive ev- 

 idence that it is derived from the bee. 

 In a recent article'^ the author claims 

 that the formic acid which honey 

 contains tends to preserve it from 

 fermentation. Honey-S3'rup from 

 which the greater part of the formic 

 acid has been washed out or expelled 

 by heat does not keep as well as the 

 normal product. The latest research- 

 ers show that this acid is deposited 

 by the bees themselves by means of 

 their stings. From time to time the 

 bees apply to the walls of the cells 

 of the comb the tiny drops of poison 

 (formic acid), that gather on the 

 ends of their stings. Sooner or later 

 this remarkable antiseptic is incor- 

 porated with the honey. The pre- 

 servative power of this acid is said 

 to be greater even than that of phe- 

 nol.^ 



A careful study of the results of 

 these analyses shows the chief adul- 

 terants of honey are the following : 



I. COMMERCIAL GLUCOSE. 



This substance, on account of its 

 honey-like a[)pearance and low price, 

 has been one of the most common 

 substitutes for honey. Mixed with 

 enough of the genuine article to give 

 it a flavor it is sold extensively as 

 pure extracted honey. A very fre- 



' DeutPch Americanische Apotheker Zeit. 

 5, 21 p. 6(i4. 



8 Comptes Rendus, Vol. LXI, p. 1179. 



quent method of adulteration is to 

 take a few ounces of genuine comb 

 honey, place in a can, holding one 

 or two pounds, and then filling up 

 with glucose. The real honey will 

 gradually diffuse throughout the whole 

 mass giving the required flavor. 



This, the most frequent sophistica- 

 tion of honey, is also the most readily 

 detected. The high dextro-rotatory 

 power of commercial glucose renders 

 its detection by optical methods ex- 

 tremely easy. Containing as it does 

 a considerable percentage of dextrine 

 and maltose, its percentage of reduc- 

 ing sugar is consequently small. In 

 ten samples purchased at random in 

 the eastern markets three were adul- 

 terated in this way. In eleven sam- 

 ples purchased in the western market 

 only one was glucose. This percent- 

 age, however, does not represent the 

 actual extent of the adulteration. In 

 making these purchases I endeavored 

 to get a sample of each kind of honey 

 on sale. It will be found that the 

 strained honeys of commerce are 

 quite generally adulterated with glu- 

 cose. 



Detection of adu/teratiaH with 

 glucose. 



I have never yet found a genuine 

 honey which is not laevo-jotatory. 

 Nevertheless, the turning of the po- 

 larized plane to the right is not con- 

 clusive evidence of the presence of 

 glucose unless the amount of deflec- 

 tion is more than ioo° of the cane 

 sugar scale, when the amount of the 

 substance taken for examination is 

 the same in weight as that required 

 by pure sucrose to read loo divisions. 



After treatment with .i volume 

 of hydrochloric acid and lieating lo 

 70° the solution is cooled and repo- 

 larized. If now it still reads to the 

 right the presence of starch sugar- 

 syrup is established. In such cases, 

 after inversion the free acid is neu- 

 tralized and the reducing sugar 

 determined by an alkaline copper 

 solution. The percentage of this 



