78 



BULLETIN 846, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In the opinion of the chemists who finally passed upon the methods, 

 the slight differences in results do not warrant the extra labor con- 

 nected with the use of sand. 



Amount of' Sample to be Used for Total Solids Determination. 



The reason for investigating f-his matter was connected primarily 

 with the determinations of ether extract and of acidity of the fat 

 which it was considered might be made more accurate by using larger 

 amounts of sample. The question then arose as to whether these 

 larger amounts of sample could be completely dried to give correct 

 total solids. The results obtained are given in Table 28. 



Table 28. — Percentage of total solids obtained with varying amounts of sample. 



Sample 

 No. 



Initial of analyst. 



Using 2.5± grams. 



Using 5.0± grams. 



Per 



Average . 



cent. 

 27.59 

 27.57 

 27.32 

 26.73 

 27.72 

 29. 58 

 31.77 

 29.06 

 29.09 

 29.97 

 30.36 

 31. 27 

 30.32 

 29. 46 

 29.24 

 29.12 

 28. 53 

 29.00 

 21.22 

 19.53 

 20. 55 

 21.57 



Per cent. 

 27.68 

 27.71 

 27.17 

 30.04 

 27.50 

 29.77 

 30.34 

 28.86 

 28.69 

 30.41 

 29.92 

 30.66 

 30. 35 

 29. 51 

 29.38 

 29.23 

 28.23 

 28. 81 

 21.05 

 19.47 

 20. 10 

 21.79 



Per cent. 

 27. 63 

 27.13 

 27.16 

 26. 86 

 27.32 

 29.60 

 29.75 

 28.92 

 28.45 

 29.90 

 29.83 

 30.69 

 30.44 

 28.55 

 28.75 

 29.06 

 28.41 

 28.44 

 20.88 

 19.61 

 20.01 

 21. 55 



Per cent. 

 27.68 

 27.12 

 27.21 

 28.00 

 27.42 

 29.61 

 29.83 

 28. 88 

 28.73 

 30.02 

 29.99 

 30.84 

 30.33 

 29.94 

 2*. 82 

 28.99 

 28.31 

 28. 05 

 20. 84 

 19.44 

 20.37 

 21.63 



27.31 



There is not much difference in the results obtained by the two 

 methods, but what little difference there is indicates the desirability 

 of using the larger amount, as it gives more uniform results, pre- 

 sumably due to decrease in the percentage error. 



