GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



the United States Supreme Court, along with the 

 best expert chemists they could find. The Govern- 

 ment, finding that the defendant would not submit 

 to the fine and penalty, and realizing that it would 

 be a test ease of chemist against chemist, had its 

 two Un'i.d States District Attorneys in Philadelphia 

 and its chief Prosecuting Attorney from Washington 

 prepare the case for trial. The Government called 

 only expert chemists, its own Chief Chemist with his 

 three assistants from the Sugar Laboratory at Wash- 

 ington, making all its pure-food analyses; its Chief 

 Chemist in the Philadelphia laboratory, and the best 

 Government expert on honey analysis in the United 

 States, brought from Seattle, Wash., and one expert 

 from civil life, who has spent about a quarter of a 

 century on the analysis and natural composition of 

 pure honevs. There were thus arrayed legal and 

 chemical experts against legal and chemical experts, 

 resulting in the cost to each side of many thousands 

 of dollars, from which the beekeeper will get a last- 

 ing benefit. 



Every legal obstacle was thrown in the way, and 

 many of the expert chemical opinions challenged by 

 the defense, with a counter chemical expert's opinion, 

 and, as a result, the trial which might have been 

 concluded in a single day lasted for about ten days. 



For those who may be interested in the chemical 

 side of the case, and others who might feel there is 

 yet a chance of safety in mixing their honey with 

 this new invert sugar made with tartaric acid, we 

 give a brief outline of the chemical lines upon which 

 the case was fought and won. 



The first and most important fact brought out in 

 the testimony was the difference between natural 

 invert sugar (honey) and artificial invert sugar made 

 by the use of tartaric acid. Judge Holland was espe- 

 cially interested in the line of testimony on this point, 

 questioning the witness again and again. The Gov- 

 ernment chemists showed that all natural honeys 

 contain soluble salts and basic acids. They had a 

 table of the honeys of the world gathered in Wash- 

 ington, showing the variance of these salts and acids 

 in the honey of all varieties. The defense claimed 

 their honey was 80 per cent Cuban and 20 per cent 

 buckwheat ; but the government showed that there 

 could not have been over 40 per cent of these honeys 

 in the sample, since the sample was just in that 

 proportion deficient *in these soluble salts and basic 

 acids. This point was contested by the defendant on 

 the ground that some mineral salts had been extract- 

 ed with the dirt when it was heated and strained, 

 and that this heating and straining would account 

 for the deficiency. The Government admitted that, 

 while some mineral salts could be extracted with 

 the dirt, yet the salts that the Government chemists 

 showed deficient was in xolvtion, and, if present, 

 could not have been eliminated by heating, straining, 

 or filtering. 



The Government further showed that the inversion 

 in the honey-sac of the honeybee is never quite com- 

 plete in the case of sweets gathered by the bees from 

 sugar-cane, corn-blossom, honey-dew, or sugar syrup 

 fed to the bees, for the very reason that soluble salts 

 were never present in any of them. This explains 

 why sweets gathered by bees, from the above sources, 

 fail to make a honey that will meet the requirements 

 of the Government standard; but all nectar gathered 

 by the bees, and stored from polleriized plants or 

 flowers, has soluble salts in their composition. 



Again, the protein test was another strong point 

 in favor of the Government, and an important factor 

 in winning the case. 



The Government chemists, in determining the ni- 

 trogenous material, by both the ordinary and the 

 Kilderhahl methods, found .14 per cent of protein in 

 a sample seized, where the records show that a nor- 

 mal Cuban honey, of which the defendant claimed 

 the sample was 80 per cent Cuban, had .5 per cei,t, 

 or Vz of one per cent, while the German government 

 specialists' literature state that .2 per cent is the 

 lowest known protein in any pure honey. 



The polariscope test was another hotly contested 

 one. The direct and invert reading at a temperature 

 of 20 Cen. and at 87 Cen., figured on a dry basis, 

 showed the resultant actual difference in the two 

 temperatures to be 23.2. Literature on the subject 

 shows a range of 23 to 33, with an average of 27, 

 clearly showing it to be away below the average, or 

 just what 40 per cent with 60 per cent of invert 

 sugar would allow. 



Again, in the tartaric-acid test there was found 

 .08 per cent of tartaric acid in sample, while natural 

 honeys contain only a scanty trace, and in Cuban 

 and buckwheat honeys no tartaric acid is found. 



Finally, in the pollen-grain test of the microscope, 

 while it was admitted to be inconclusive, the result 

 corresponded with the small per cent of honey in the 

 sample seized. 



We here give part of Judge Holland's charge to 

 the jury, for it is significant : 



Geyitlemen of the Jury: — Every man, woman, and 

 child in the United States, when he is hungry, needs 

 food; and when he is sick he needs drugs; and the 

 individual citizen is unable to see to it that the food 

 purchased or the drugs purchased are pure, and the 

 Government has taken on itself the work of perfect- 

 ing that for the whole people, so that this is a con- 

 test for pure food for the protection of the individual 

 citizen who has not the facilities or the information 

 to protect himself. It is a very, very beneficial act; 

 but it has no terror for the man (or, rather, the 

 manufacturer) who sells the pure article and brands 

 it what it is. It is a fact, notwithstanding the at- 

 tempt which did throw a great deal of doubt and 

 uncertainty over the work of the experts in this case, 

 that chemistry has been wrought to such a high point 

 of efficiency that it can be told with certainty, or at 

 any rate with a certain degree of certainty, what is 

 contained in almost any substance, whether or not 

 it is pure, or whether or not it has some other sub- 

 stance mixed with it. 



You will notice that an article is adulterated if 

 any substance has been substituted, whole or in part. 

 There is no question as to whether the adulteration 

 be deleterious or injurious to the health. Tlie sub- 

 stitution may be beneficial ; but the law is to guar- 

 antee each citizen that, as a consumer, he shall know, 

 when he desires to purchase a certain article, what 

 he gets and what he pays for. That is the object 

 of the law. It is to protect the consumers against 

 the adulteration or misbranding of their goods and 

 their drugs so that they may be able to rely on what 

 an article is said to contain, and may rely so that 

 they will not be misled by the label. 



The Government, in its supervision of matters of 

 this kind, concluded that this particular brand of 

 honey, which is labeled " Excelsior Choice Pure 

 Strained Honey," is not a pure honey, and it seized 

 these six cases, and it now brings this proceeding, 

 charging that it is impure or adulterated in one of 

 its labels, and in the other that it is misbranded. 

 Their label on it, " Choice Pure Strained Honey," 

 is not true, as it contains other matters besides pure 

 honey, and, therefore, it is misbranded. Their ex- 

 pert proved what is alleged. 



Now, we are entirely dependent upon the testimo- 

 ny of experts with the sole exception of the defendant 

 himself. Tlie Government experts gave authority, 

 and testified and gave an account of the analysis they 

 made for the purpose of ascertaining what this mix- 

 ture contained. They stated positively that they 

 made his examination and they gave the result. They 

 started with what they regarded as the most signifi- 

 cant analysis, which is the one which produces the 

 ash result, and they went through an entire list of 

 known methods in chemistry by which they can as- 

 certain whether the honey is pure or adulterated. 

 They took Browne & Fehles' tests, and produced part 

 dextrose and levulose, and the polarization in finding 

 tartaric. There were nine tests in all. 



As evidence on the side of the Government, you 

 will recall with what intelligence Government experts 

 maintained their position as to the work they had 

 done; and you will judge, of course, of the method 

 in which it was done, and judge whether or not you 

 will accept their conclusion or the conclusion reached 

 by the expert of the defendant. 



The j^iry retired at the close of Judge Holland's 

 charge, and, after deliberating about 50 minutes, 

 brought on a verdict of guilty on both cha-rges of 

 adulterating and misbranding. 



