30 CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF SOME TROPICAL FRUITS. 



chlorin. Some published results on the composition of the ash of this 

 fruit give as much as 27 per cent of chlorin. It is difficult to explain 

 such results, inasmuch as the analyst worked upon the flesh alone and 

 employed the usual methods of obtaining the ash. In order to ascer- 

 tain the quantity of chlorin lost during the combustion of the pulp, two 

 samples were ignited with sodium carbonate, the chlorin determined 

 and calculated back to the ash. It was found that if all the chlorin 

 occurring in the pulp could be obtained in the ash it would amount to 

 only 16 per cent. Naturally a somewhat lower result was obtained by 

 the writer using ordinary methods of combustion, but amounts of 

 chlorin 10 per cent greater have been reported by another analyst. ° 



The ashes of the mangos and the anonae show nothing character- 

 istic; those of the mamey, sapota, and hicaco contain large amounts of 

 chlorin, twice as much as any of the other samples, although the caimito 

 also contains a large amount of this constituent. The pineapple ash 

 shows no marked amount of any constituent by which it could be iden- 

 tified, though it contains more than the average amount of potash. In 

 short, there is little about the ash of the fruits examined which would 

 aid in identifying them. 



"Report of the California Agr. Expt. Sta., 1892-1893, p. 277. 



