STUDIES ON PEACHES. 



Very few complete analyses of peaches seem to have been made. 

 The methods for the examination of products of this kind have been 

 greatly improved during recent }^ears and the results of later analyses, 

 for this reason, are much more reliable than earlier ones. Consid- 

 ering the large number of analyses of apples, pears, and some other 

 varieties of fruits that have been published, it is a matter of surprise 

 to note how few peach analyses have been reported. The only pub- 

 lished analyses with which the writers are familiar are collected in 

 Table I. From this table it will be noted that of the analyses made 

 according to modern methods only those of Kulisch and Girard are at all 

 complete. 



I. COMPILED ANALYSES OF PEACHES. 



Geiseler a and Lehmann 6 obtained amygdalin from peach kernels 

 (Kernen), Geiseler finding 3 per cent and Lehmann 2.35 per cent of 

 the glucoside. 



Ritthausen c investigated the proteid of peach kernels and found it to 

 be similar to the conglutin in lupines. 



Considerable work has been done on the oil from peach kernels, 

 chiefly with regard to its use as an adulterant of, almond oil, for which 

 the reader*is referred to standard works on oils/' 



Bauer 6 isolated galactose from the sulphuric acid hydrolysis product 

 of peach gum. 



Stone^ prepared galactose and arabinose from peach gum. Gum 

 from the peach tree, as well as the gum from peaches, } r ielded the 

 above sugars. 



Storer^ reported the proximate composition of peach stones as 

 obtained by the Weedne method. Storer later h examined peach stones, 

 using chiefly Lange's method of fusion with caustic potash for the 

 estimation of cellulose. The method }delded a cellulose having a very 

 high content of pentosans (45.23 per cent). The filtrate from the 

 reaction product yielded about 15 per cent of Lange's "lignic acid." 

 Two nitric-acid methods were tried, but not the chlorination method 

 of Cross and Be van/ Storer concludes that peach stones probably 

 contain a smaller proportion of trtre cellulose than occurs in various 

 kinds of woods. 







Centrbl., 1840, 11, 403. &N. Rep. Pharm., 23, 449; Jahresb., 1874, 887. 



cj. prakt. Chem., 1882, 26, 440. 



<* Chemical Technology and Analysis of Oils, Fats, and Waxes, Lewkowitsch ; Oils, 

 Fats, and Waxes, and their Manufactured Products, Wright and Mitchell, etc. 

 Landw. Versuchs-Stat., 1888, 35, 33. /Am. Chem. J., 1890, 12, 435. 



f/Bul. Bussey Inst., 1874, 1, 373. ^Ibid., 1898, 2, 410. * Cellulose, p. 95. 



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