748 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



of the maize glucose industry, and made the statement that the sirup in question 

 resembled honey. It was stated that a mixture of this sirup with an equal amount 

 of honey was exported to Europe as American honey. Furthermore, the method of 

 manufacture of the sirup was stated to he a secret. The author therefore thought it 

 hie duty to explain this secret, and to publish the fact that by using oxalic acid 

 instead of sulphuric acid a honey-like glucose was obtainable. Potato starch could 

 not be used. It is well to be on the watch for adulteration in American honey. 



MANUFACTURE OF ABTIFICIAL HONEY.* 



An English patent, No. 8863, July 22, 1885, prescribes the mixture of 35 parts of 

 dextrose and 40 parts of levnlose, a fruit ether, and enough cane sugar to make a 10 

 per cent solution and give a rotation of 1 on a Soleil Veutzke polariscope. The 

 mixture may be crystallized by adding some granulated honey. 



SUGAR HONEY. t 



At the tenth annual meeting of the Independent Association of Bavarian Repre- 

 sentatives of Applied Chemistry, held at Augsburg on July 17, Theodore Weigle re- 

 ported on sugar honey. This material has lately been brought to the notice of the 

 public as a cheap substitute for genuine honey. It consists of water, invert sugar, 

 traces of mineral matter, and free acid, flavored so as to imitate the odor and taste of 

 genuine honey. Dextrine, sucrose, or other bodies foreign to genuine honey could not 

 be found in the artificial product and it is apparent that both chemically and phys- 

 ically the substitute so closely approximates honey that it can not bo distinguished 

 from it. R. Kayser, of Nuremberg, substantiated the above and claimed that if the 

 manufacture of sugar honey remains in the hands of reliable men, it would soou re- 

 duce the production of genuine honey materially.} 



HONEY ANALYSIS. 



An English firm, A. Lyle & Co., has put on the market a so-called ''artificial 

 honey" made from cane sugar, and consisting of levulose and dextrose like the 

 natural honey, which it closely resembles in every respect except as to taste and 

 smell. To differentiate between this substance and honey, can be used the total 

 lack of phosphoric acid in the former. Natural honey contains between 0.014 and 

 0.035 per cent phosphoric acid. On the other hand the starch sirup, also used as au 

 adulterant, contains from 0.01 to 0.107 per cent. The ash of pure honey and that of 

 Lyle's substitute are heavily alkaline; that from glucose or glucose mixtures is always 

 neutral. 



EUCALYPTUS HONEY AND ITS EXPOSE. || 



In 1887, Dr. Thomas Caraman, communicated to the Paris Acade"ruie de Me"decino au 

 account of finding a giant colony of hitherto undescribed bees (named by him Apis 

 nigra m-ellifica) in eucalyptus trees iu Tasmania. In one instance a hive was said to 

 contain 11,000 pounds of honey. This honey was described as a thick, transparent 



* Pharm. Centralhalle, 28, 92. 



t Deutsche Zuckerindustrie, 16, 1043. 



t Experiments in the manufacture of sugar honey on a large scale were mado as 

 early as 1885 by Dr. A. Herzfeld and were reported in Deutsche Zuckerindustrie, 1885, 

 No. 33, p. 1120. 



$ O.Hehner, Analyst, 1885, 217; Report, anal. Chem., 6, 41; aba. Chem. Central- 

 blatt, 1885, 204. 



|| Pharm. Era, Feb. 15, 1891, p. 107. 



