THE MICROSCOPE AS DETECTIVE 



Renovated butter, that is to say rancid butter which 

 has been melted and made palatable by forcing 

 steam through it, should be examined by oblique 

 light — easily arranged by tilting the mirror at an 

 angle — when the curd appears as white patches on 

 a dark background. 



It is curious that one article of food, honey, is 

 more likely to be pure when it contains impurities. 

 This sounds like a bull but a great deal of honey 

 is manufactured from various sugars but not by 

 bees. This artificial honey contains no pollen grains, 

 in fact any honey found to be free of pollen should 

 be looked upon with suspicion. Starch often occurs 

 in artificial honey, never in real bee-made honey. 



To many foods adulterants are added as preserva- 

 tives, the nature and quantity of such additions 

 is settled by Act of Parliament. Many foods are 

 preserved with small quantities of Borax or Boric 

 Acid. The use of Formaldehyde, formerly sold 

 under the German trade name of Formalin, is not 

 unknown but it is very injurious. Salicylic Acid 

 which was formerly much used is being supplanted 

 by Benzoic Acid, for the reson that the latter is not 

 so easily detected and therefore prosecution for 

 excessive quantities is not so likely to follow. These 

 preservatives are not easily detected by the micro- 

 scopist unless he be a chemist also. 



As we have already remarked adulterants are 

 added for the sake of colour, either because the 

 public demand certain colours, or to hide fraud. 

 Milk for instance, when watered, assumes a charac- 



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