SUGAR, MOLASSES, CONFECTIONS, AND HONEY. 801 



really an Impure dextrin. After dissolving in a little water, phosphotungstic acid, 

 containing some sulphuric acid, was added, and the liquid filtered. The excess of re- 

 agent was removed by means of baryta water, and this in turn by the cautious addi- 

 tion of sulphuric acid. After concentrating a little liquor plumbi was added, the 

 liquid filtered, and the excess of lead removed by means of hydrogen sulphide. The 

 filtrate was evaporated in the water bath until it became a thin sirup, and 200 cc of 

 90 per cent alcohol were added, which were sufficient to keep the dextrin in solution. 

 After filtering and evaporating, the dextrin was obtained as a brown sirup, which 

 was purified with animal charcoal, until it was finally obtained as a yellowish, brittle, 

 amorphous mass. 



To obtain the related glucose, 5 grams of this dextrin were dissolved in 200 cc 

 of water, mixed with 20 cc of 20 per cent sulphuric acid and heated for three hours 

 on the water bath. The liquid was neutralized with barium carbonate, filtered and 

 evaporated to a sirup, which was repeatedly exhausted with alcohol. After distilling 

 off, a brownish sirup was obtained, which was purified by animal charcoal. 



It crystallizes in granules, reduces Fehling's solution strongly, and the authors 

 succeeded in forming phenylglucazone by warming 1 gram with two grams of phenyl- 

 hydrazin, 3 grams of sodium acetate, and 20 cc of water. The crude product was 

 recrystallized from alcohol and obtained in small yellow needles, fusing at 204 C. 

 This removes all doubt about the original substance being dextrin, the presence of 

 which in honey may perhaps be explained by the supposition of the bees feeding, 

 when they get a chance, on malt in breweries. 



From a careful study of the above data, it is shown that the honey-like exudation 

 of the pine tree, without doubt, differs in a marked degree from that of the honeys of 

 ordinary plants in being right-handed, from a polariscopic point of view, and con- 

 taining bodies not sucrose nor invert sugar, with a specific rotatory power of about 

 105. It appears further that, according to the observations of some authors, honey 

 made from the exudation of pines is naturally right-handed, though this observation 

 is not confirmed by the single sample which I had at my disposal. 



I should be glad hereafter to receive samples of honey of undoubted pine tree origin 

 for the purpose of making a further study in regard to its nature, and I hope to take 

 advantage of the next mild winter to obtain more extensive samples from the locali- 

 ties affording those samples already examined. 



Up to the present time it must be confessed that no genuine sample of honey col- 

 lected in this country has shown a right-handed rotation. Honey possessing this 

 property therefore greatly excites suspicion and warrants an inquiry concerning its 

 composition. 



The status of honey adulteration in 1885 may be seen from a paper 

 published at that time containing the results of some preliminary studies 

 on the subject : 



[From the American Apiculturist, Vol. Ill, No. 12, 1885.] 

 HONEY AND ITS ADULTERATIONS, BY PROF. H. W. WILEY. 



Pure honey is the nectar of flowers passed through the organism of the bee and 

 stored in a comb. Adulterated honey is any compound or preparation known or sold 

 as honey which has not been formed in the manner described. Chemically considered, 

 therefore, pure honey consists of the substances gathered by the bee from flowers, 

 subjected to such modifications as they may undergo in the insect laboratory through 

 which they pass. 



The saccharin exudation of flowers consists of a mixture of various sugars, con- 

 taining, in the form of pollen, a small quantity of nitrogenous matter. The exact 

 number and kind of sugars in the nectar of flowers has never been determined. 

 Wilson* estimated the reducing sugar and sucrose in the nectar of certain flowers. 



* Cbem, News, 38, 93, 



