In appearance it resembled a mixture of fine wheat mid- 

 dlings and wheat screenings, together with a small quantity of 

 caraway or fennel seeds and small bits of a substance like but- 

 ter-nut"or elm bark. It had, like the other samples, a strong sa- 

 line taste and odor of fenugreek. Its chemical composition was 

 as follows, and is shown in^comparison^with the figures for cot- 

 ton-seed meal, which is a really concentrated food, taken from 

 the same source as the figures for middlings and corn-meal,"* 



This comparison shows that the Climax has only its ex- 

 tremely high percentage of ash to warrant a claim to being a 

 concentrated food. The Climax also contained 5.59 per cent. 

 of sulphur, and in the water solution were found, chlorine, 5.92, 

 sulphuric anhydride, 2.53. and sodium' oxic^e. 8.54 per cent., to 

 gether with traces of potassium and magnesium and a large 

 amount (qualitatively) of nitric acid. From these data it was 

 calculated that the food might have contained ihe following 

 substances : 



Sodium chlop'de, or common salt, 9.77 per cent. 



Sodium' sulphate, or Glauber's salt, 4.5c per cent. 



Sodium nitrate, or Chili saltpetre, 3.84 per cent. 



From these analyses it it evident that the claims of the man- 

 ufacturers, with regard to concentrated foods, are without found- 

 ation, as neither of the three will approach cotton-seed meal in 

 the percentage of protein and fat. The mei icinal substances 

 found are of the cheapest kind. The average price per pound, 

 at which they can be bought in the market, is not so high as the 

 price per pound of the foods. 



Fenugreek, the odor of which was, very strong in each mix- 

 ture, is thus spoken of in the JSational Dispensary : "It posses- 

 ses hardly any other than emollient properties and is used only 

 for poultices." 



Ihe 2rtasury of Botany speaks of it as follows : " It is the 

 principal ingredient in most of the quack nostrums, which found 



6 



