SUGAR, MOLASSES, CONFECTIONS, AND HONEY. 789 



adulteration, however, is not great enough to permit its classification 

 with the fraudulent samples without this word of explanation. 



No. 140 shows that Githens & Bexsamer have worked the Cincinnati 

 markets pretty thoroughly with their imitation comb honeys. 



No. 141 is explained by note on 104. 



No. 144 is another of McMechen's Old Virginia. 



No. 149 is another illustration of an adulterated honey bearing the 

 label of C. F. Muth & Son. 



Summary. Of the whole number 13 are certainly adulterated, 26 per 

 cent and 1 other probably, 28 per cent in all. In the present state of 

 our knowledge it is necessary to pass all moderately left-handed honeys 

 as pure, although there may be a great percentage of adulteration in 

 such samples. Methods are now perfecting which will enable us to de- 

 tect an adulteration in a left-handed sugar with as great a degree of 

 certainty as we are now able to do with a right-handed one. 



ANALYSES BY S. P. SHARPLES. 



In the case of the strained honeys on the market, the price seems to 

 be governed entirely by the will of the retailer, the same-sized tumbler 

 selling from 10 to 18 cents, according to the store. 



The highest priced were the two samples of fraudulent Swiss honey, 

 while the cheapest was the pint jar of pure honey from Cambridge. 



The practical working of a good anti-adulteration law, properly en- 

 forced, is well illustrated in the samples of honey collected in and near 

 Boston. Only 6 samples out of 50 were found to be adulterated with 

 glucose, or 12 per cent. These are Nos. 9504, 9506, 9524, 9525, 9526, 

 and 9547. 



In Nos. 9504 and 9506 is seen the temerity of fraudulent comb honey 

 seeking a market in the only city in the country where a serious attempt 

 to prevent the sale of such sophisticated articles is made. The maker 

 affixed no label, depending, evidently, on the presence of the comb to 

 secure a ready sale and immunity from inspection. 



In Nos. 9524 and 9525 samples of the breakfast honey so enjoyed by 

 travelers in Switzerland are found. They are almost pure glucose, very 

 possibly made in America. The label in this case commanded a high 

 price, as indicated above. 



No. 9526 has a label which is calculated to carry conviction to a hesitat- 

 ing heart. It is endowed with the natural granulating principle which 

 pure honey has in a high degree, especially after extraction. The char- 

 acter of the adulteration is not clear, but it is apparently dextrose, 

 probably the anhydrous variety. It is at least a right-handed sugar, 

 whose rotatory power is not appreciably affected by heating with an 

 acid during the process of inverting cane sugar. 



As in the other cases, left-handed honeys have been passed without 

 question as genuine. After more definite means have been devised to 

 discriminate between pure honey and pure invert sugar it will be pos- 

 sible to pass judgment upon the purity of such samples, 

 18808 No, 13 11 



