806 FOODS AND FOOD ADULTERANTS. 



It will be instructive to compare the numbers iu the above tables with those ob- 

 tained, by other analysts. Koenig* gives the following means of 17 analyses : 



Per cent. 



Water 19.61 



Albuminoids 1.20 



Grape sugar 70.96 



Sucrose 2.76 



Pollen 0.17 



Ash 0.19 



Phosphoric acid 0. 03 



O. Hehner t gives the following numbers as the mean of 25 samples : 



Per cent. 



Glucose 67.2 



Water 19.2 * 



Not determined 13.5 



According to Hehner the fluidity of the honey does not depend on the amount of 

 water it contains. In 10 cases the quantity of glucose after inversion was less than 

 before, in one instance 5.23 per cent less. The rotating power was generally zero, a 

 condition which I have never found in American honeys, genuine or artificial. These 

 conclusions are so at variance with ordinary experience as to indicate that the sam- 

 ples analyzed were anomalous, or the methods employed unreliable. 

 Sieben t gives the mean composition of 60 samples of honey as follows : 



Per cent. 



Dextrose 34.71 



Levulose 39.24 



Sucrose 1.80 



Water 19.98 



Non-sugars 5.02 



The solids not determined, as will be seen by the analyses presented in this paper, 

 are of considerable importance. In adulterations with the starch sugar sirup these 

 undetermined solids consist chiefly of maltose and dextrine. In many other cases 

 dextrine, as will be shown further on, is doubtless present. 



Genuine honey has also a slightly acid reaction. This acidity is due either to cer- 

 tain organic acids derived from the plants or, more probably, to an acid furnished by 

 the bee itself. The kind and quantity of acids in honey have not been accurately 

 studied. I have found the total acidity measured as formic acid to be about 0.02 per 

 cent. That the acid furnished by the bee is formic there is little doubt. Will $ 

 states that he has found the active principle of the poison of all hymenoptera to be 

 formic acid. Carlet, || in a communication to the French Academy, shows that the 

 poison of all the hymenoptera has an acid reaction, but that it contains also an active 

 alkaline substance. The activity of the poison is conditioned on the presence of 

 both the acid and alkali. The acid is always in large excess and each substance 

 is furnished by a special gland. The inversion of the cane sugar in the organism of 

 the bee may be due to the presence of these acids. On the other hand it is plain that 

 certain species of pine and some other plants furnish formic acid, and therefore the 

 detection of this acid in honey is not positive evidence that it is derived from the 

 bee. In a recent article If the author claims that the formic acid which honey 

 contains tends to preserve it from fermentation. Honey sirup from which the greater 



* Nahrungsmittel, p. 161. 



t Analyst, Vol. 9, pp. 64 et seq. 



t Zeitsch. d. Ver. f. d. Rubenzucker Industrie, Vol. 34, pp. 837 et seq. 



Schleideii and Foreps Not., September, 1848, p. 17. 



|| Comptes Rendus, June 23, 1884, p. 1550. 



If Deutsch Ainericauische Apotheker Zeit. 5, 21, p. 664. 



