682 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



extremely small. The very best way of all to prevent the adulteration 

 of an article of food is to have the price of this article so low as to ex- 

 clude the possibility of any kind of adulteration proving profitable. 



Attempts to find the origin of the sugar samples usually proved fruit- 

 less, inasmuch as they were, as a rule, bought in small groceries, the 

 proprietors of which knew no more about them than that they came 

 from the wholesale houses. One sample of Louisiana yellow clarified 

 (No. 8640) was found in Baltimore. Many of the granulated white 

 sugars, after standing in corked bottles for some time, developed the 

 foul odor characteristic of beet products. The sugars now called u brown 

 sugar "by the grocers are moist, fine grained, light-yellow products, 

 while by " black sugar" is understood a yellowish-brown sugar, such 

 as was sold as " brown sugar" five or six years ago. It was attempted 

 to get some very cheap samples, but none were found which varied 

 much from the average price. 



For direct polarization duplicate samples of 26.048 grams (0.5 mg) 

 were weighed out in a sugar dish, washed into a 100 cc flask, with 

 water of room temperature, dissolved in about 75 cc. of water by giv- 

 ing the flask a gentle rotary motion, and from 1 drop to 1 cc of con- 

 centrated solution of basic acetate of lead added, the smaller quantity 

 being for very high-grade sugars, the greater for correspondingly low; 

 1 or 2 cc of alumina cream was also always added. High-polarizing 

 sugars seldom give a flocky, readily filtering precipitate with basic ace- 

 tate as do lower grades, the precipitate formed being as a rule scanty 

 and slimy, passing readily through the filter. Addition of alumina 

 cream flocks this suspended finely-pulverulent precipitate together, 

 much facilitating filtration and insuring clear filtrates. For the sake 

 of uniformity all sugar samples received this addition. After making 

 the solution up to the mark it was filtered through a fluted filter and 

 polarized in a 200 mm tube. The polariscope used was a 600 mm half- 

 shade Schmidt & Haensch. Six readings were made on each solu- 

 tion, .the average being recorded. For invert readings a 50 to 55 cc. 

 flask was filled to the 50 cc mark with the solution which had been 

 polarized, room temperature being noted, 5 cc of strong hydrochloric 

 (sp. g. 1.2) added, and the flask, together with another containing water 

 and having a thermometer standing in it, placed in a pan of water kept 

 heated to 68 to 70 by a steam bath. As soon as the thermometer in 

 the flask showed 69, time was noted and that temperature kept up for 

 ten minutes. After this lapse of time the flasks were plunged in 

 another pan of cold water, to be again removed when the thermometer 

 showed room temperature. Polarization was made in a 220 mm tube. 

 The tube was laid in the polariscope over a delicate thermometer. 

 Readings were then made at short intervals until they ceased to vary, 

 the final reading being recorded and, at the same time, the temperature 

 recorded on the thermometer was noted. The old value for Clerget's 

 constant, 144, was used instead of the newer but not yet established 

 values 142.4 and 142.6-7. Bono-black was not used with sugar samples. 



