302 Annual Beport for 1887 of the Consulting Chemist. 
of oil has not on the whole decreased, and several firms, I have 
reason to believe, have done well in offering cakes guaranteed 
to possess a high percentage of oil. Last year I commented on 
many instances that had come under my notice, of sand existing 
to a large degree in linseed-cakes. This year, I am happy to say, 
there has been a decided decrease in the quantity, though the 
2 per cent, margin, which I have ventured to suggest in my re- 
commendations for "pure" cake, is still too frequently exceeded. 
In a great number of cases which have been brought under 
the notice of the Chemical Committee, cakes have been offered 
to purchasers at prices at which it is impossible to produce a 
pure cake ; and while the doctrine of caveat emptor may to a 
certain extent apply, and purchasers should not allow themselves 
to be tempted too much by low prices, it is I think far worse 
that unscrupulous traders, by offering such inducements, and 
professing cakes to be pure which are not really so, should 
undersell honest makers of pure cakes. 
Decorticated Cotton-Cal-e. — As predicted in my last year's 
report, the percentage of oil in this kind of cake has gone lower 
and lower, until it is quite a rarity to come across a cake having 
even 12 per cent, of oil. This lowering of the oil has been accom- 
panied by inferior mechanical condition, and I have had many 
instances brought before me where feeders have given up the 
use of this cake on the latter ground. Still, here and there a 
good cake is occasionally to be found, one or two firms showing 
an aptitude for picking up a good cargo as soon as it arrives. 
The following is a case in point : — 
Moisture 10-15 
Oil 1507 
' Albuminous compounds (flesh-forming matters) . 40-12 
Uigjestible fibre, &c 19-51 
Woody fibre (cellulose) 3-70 
Mineral matter (ash) 5-45 
10000 
Containing nitrogen . . . , , 7-38 
This was a rich and soft cake, and in June 1887 it cost only 
61. 5s. a ton, delivered in Oxfoi'd, which is a price by no means 
more than much inferior qualities of decorticated cotton-cake 
were selling for at the time. Indeed, I find generally that the 
good cakes cost no more than the bad ones. 
Undecortlcated Cotton-Calces have been generally free from 
impurity, though the complaints aa to the husk being very coarse 
and having much cotton-wool still adhering to the seed are far 
from imcommon. The following two analyses are those of a 
kind of cotton-cake known as " Brazilian Cotton-Cake," which, 
whilst approaching the decorticated cotton-cake in composition, 
