SUGAR, MOLASSES, CONFECTIONS, AND HONEY. 805 



Remarks on tables. The temperature at which the direct polarization is taken is 

 given, so that if any great difference in the two temperatures should occur it can be 

 at once noted. Since the temperature has a marked influence on the levorotatory power 

 of invert sugar, it should always be taken into account in expressing the data of the 

 work. In order to secure results which are strictly comparable, some definite degree 

 of temperature should be chosen, at which all the polarizations should be made, or to 

 which they should be reduced. I am now having an instrument constructed which 

 will enable me to make all such polarizations at any selected temperature. 



The percentage of reducing sugar is calculated for dextrose, and the numbers, there- 

 fore, must be taken with this understanding. In the last column of each table are 

 found the percentages of such sugars in terms of total solids. This gave a much bet- 

 ter idea of their relative amount than if they were expressed in percentages of the 

 weight of the substances examined. 



In the* polarizations the numbers given are divisions of the cane-sugar scale of a 

 larger Laurent shadow polariscope in which 16.2 grams of pure sugar in a volume of 

 100 cc. will produce a right-handed rotation of 100. The sucrose was calculated from 

 the two polariscopic readings (before and after inversion) by the usual formula. 



Table No. 1. In all these samples as indicated by the analysis, starch sirup (glu- 

 cose) was largely used as an adulterant. In sample No. 5, very little real honey could 

 have been present, the sample was composed almost exclusively of starch sirup and 

 of sucrose, which has been added to give it sweetness. In the other cases the sucrose 

 which was found by analysis was probably originally present in the honey part of 

 the mixture, since, had it been added as an adulterant, more of it would have been 

 found. The characteristics of each sample, as well as of all of them collectively, can 

 be seen by studying the table. 



Table No. 2. The mean percentage of sucrose present in these samples as determined 

 by double polarizations is 11.79, and by reduction 14.58. With the exception of No. 

 11, to which sucrose was undoubtedly added, I can not think that any sucrose was 

 added by producer or dealer, on account of the small percentage of it found. In such 

 cases it is proper to suppose that the bees had access to flowers whose nectar was rich 

 in sucrose, or that they had been fed a solution of that substance. The use of solu- 

 tions of sucrose as bee food is not unusual. 



Table No. 3. These 16 samples I have grouped together on account of their great 

 levorotatory power. For the first polarization this amounts to 16.75 divisions, and 

 for the inverted liquids to 18.10. It is possible that this great deviation to the left 

 may have been due to the entire absence of dextrine or sucrose in the honeys, or that 

 it might have been produced by the bee food being rich in sucrose, which suffered a 

 nearly complete inversion in the body of the insect. 



It would be quite improper to definitely assert that invert sugar sirup had been 

 added as an intended adulterant. I think it quite possible that bees having access 

 to sucrose food might at one time produce a honey like that in Table No. 2, and at 

 another like that in Table No. 3. 



Table No. 4. These honeys all appear to be genuine although it is hard to draw the 

 line between such samples as Nos. 31 and 32 and those found in Table No. 3. The 

 mean reading to the left is 7.40 divisions before inversion and 11.11 afterwards. The 

 mean of undetermined solids is 7.56, and the percentage of reducing sugar before inver- 

 sion to total solids, 86.77. The means of sucrose as determined by both methods are 

 low and fairly agree, although, as in the other table, they differ widely in single in- 

 stances. 



Table No. 5. These honeys, obtained directly or indirectly from well known apia- 

 rists, I have every reason to believe to be pure. If they contain any adulteration it 

 has been added by artificial feeding and not intentionally. It will be observed that 

 these honeys are strongly levorotatory, and indeed so much so, that some of them 

 might have appeared in Table No. 3. 



18808 No. 13 12 



