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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



be able to discriminate definitely be- 

 tween such articles of artificial honey 

 and genuine honeys as those above men- 

 tioned. Investigations in this line have 

 not gone far enough to enable any defi- 

 nite statement to be made now, but I 

 can only say that the results are very 

 hopeful, and lead to the just expectation 

 of soon formulating a method of dis- 

 crimination between the honeys men- 

 tioned. 



One property of pure invert sugar will 

 be found very valuable in such an inves- 

 tigation, namely, the fact that pure in- 

 vert sugar made from cane-sugar when 

 examined in a polariscope at a tempera- 

 ture of about 88- C, is optically neuter, 

 that is, neither deflecting the plane of 

 polarized light to the right nor to the 

 left. In every case of a pure floral 

 honey which has come under my obser- 

 vation so far, it was found that at the 

 temperature mentioned it showed a 

 right-handed polarization. In two of the 

 samples sent by Prof. Cook, it was found 

 that the honey examined at 88- showed 

 a left-handed polarization. Now this is 

 due probably to the fact that the honey 

 was partially crystallized, and the sam- 

 ples sent were the liquid portion con- 

 sisting almost exclusively of levulose, 

 while the solid portion not sent would 

 consist almost exclusively of dextrose. 

 This is only a supposition on my part, 

 as I have not yet learned from Prof 

 Cook the nature and origin of the sam- 

 ples mentioned. But every one will 

 agree that a honey obtained by drawing 

 off the liquid portion from a partially 

 granulated honey would not in any sense 

 of the word be a pure, normal honey, 

 any more than the residue would be. It 

 is possible, however (and that must be 

 mentioned here), that the nectar of 

 some flowers contains naturally an ex- 

 cess of levulose, in which case the honey 

 gathered therefrom, although left-handed 

 at 88^, must be considered pure. These 

 are matters which subsequent investiga- 

 tions will make clear. 



Another important factor in the ex- 

 amination of honey is in the amount of 

 reducing sugar, so-called, which it con- 

 tains ; that is, the quantity of sugar in 

 it which is capable of reducing a copper 

 salt to the condition of a sub-oxid. In 

 all pure floral honeys it has been ob- 

 served that the percentage of reducing 

 sugar in the dry substance does not fall 

 in any case below 85^, while In general 

 it reaches nearly to 90^^ or above. 

 When, therefore, a honey is examined in 

 which the reducing sugar is decidedly 

 less in quantity than 85 per cent, of the 



dry substance, it must at once be re- 

 garded as suspicious. 



The percentage of ash is also a matter 

 of some importance. It has been found 

 so far that in the suspicious honeys in 

 the samples sent by Prof. Cook, that the 

 percentage of ash is greater than in the 

 honey which seems to be pure. Further 

 investigations, however, will be neces- 

 sary to determine whether this is a gen- 

 eral rule or not. 



Strange as it may seem, one of the 

 most difficult things in the analysis of 

 honey is to determine the amount of 

 water which it contains. One of the 

 simplest methods consists in drying a 

 small portion of the honey in a flat bot- 

 tom platinum dish for about 15 hours, 

 at the temperature of boiling water. 

 Determined in this way the average per- 

 centage of water in the samples of 

 honey examined was found to be about 

 16. The lowest percentage found was 

 13.75 in a clearly adulterated sample, 

 and the highest percentage found was 

 22.75 per cent, in one of the samples 

 which was abnormal in having still at 

 88- a left-handed polarization. 



In general it may be said that it is 

 possible for any one who is disposed to 

 make a mixture of pure honey with a 

 small quantity of certain adulterants in 

 such a way that the chemist would be 

 unable to detect the fraud ; but such a 

 method of adulteration would never be 

 practiced commercially because it would 

 not be profitable. On the other hand we 

 may boldly say that in all commercial 

 adulteration the chemist will be able to 

 find the fraud, and the skill of the 

 chemist will doubtless keep pace with or 

 excel the skill of the adulterator. 



In the general examination made by 

 the Department, which has been re- 

 ferred to above, two particular samples 

 of honey deserve a special word. In 

 almost every market of the United 

 States were found samples of honey 

 labeled "Pure Old Virginia Honey," 

 manufactured by Geo. K. McMechen & 

 Son. In no instance was a sample of 

 this honey found to be pure. All sam- 

 ples purchased in the open market were 

 adulterated. 



Another peculiar sample of honey was 

 labeled " Hoge's Horehound Honey," 

 good for coughs and colds, and said to 

 be gathered from a" certain region in 

 California. This sample was accompa- 

 nied with the most enthusiastic testimo- 

 nials, and also had a certificate of a jus- 

 tice of the peace in regard to the nature 

 of the locality where it was supposed to 

 bo gathered. Several samples of this 

 honey were obtained, and they were 



