342  Annual  Report  for  1909  of  the  Consulting  Chemist. 
replaced  in  measure  by  Soya  bean  cake  or  meal.  The  instances 
of  inferiority  or  impurity  of  cakes  sold  as  linseed  cake  have 
been  but  few.  Occasionally,  however,  such  occur,  • as 
exemplified  in  the  accompanying  analyses  (“  A,”  “ B,”  “ C ”). 
In  the  two  first-named  cakes  sand  was  present  in  excessive 
amount,  the  quality  in  each  case  being  also  low.  “ C ” was  an 
instance  of  a cake  specially  low  in  quality,  though  pure. 
Analyses  “ D ” and  “ E ” give  a comparison  of  two  cakes,  one 
(“  D ”)  a pure  linseed  cake,  and  the  other  (“  E ”)  sold  as  “ oil 
cake,”  but  represented  as  being  equal  to  best  linseed  cake,  and 
they  show  the  need  of  insisting  on  the  purchase  of  piire 
linseed  cake  only. 
A 
B 
C 
D 
E 
Moisture  . 
12-61 
10-98 
10-23 
12-07 
12-92 
Oil  . 
1 Albuminous  com- 
8-96 
7-75 
. 6-79 
14-38 
11-28 
pounds  . 
Mucilage,  digest- 
26-81 
27-50 
35-37 
26-25 
22-94 
ible  fibre,  &c.  . 
35-12 
36-21 
35-02' 
j-  41-02 
46-55 
Woody  fibre 
^Mineral  matter 
8-42 
7-92 
7-15, 
(ash) 
8-08 
9-64 
5-44 
6-28 
- 6-31 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
100-00 
’ Containing  nitrogen 
4-29 
4-40 
5-66 
4-20 
367 
^Including  sand  . 
2-34 
3-34 
-05 
— 
— 
“ C ” was  a cake  costing  11.  17s.  ^d.  per  ton  in  London  in 
January,  1909,  the  then  current  price  for  American-made  cake 
in  London  being  11.  13s.  9d.  per  ton. 
“D”  cost  9Z.  los.  per  ton  delivered,  and  “E”  9Z.  7s.  6d. 
per  ton,  the  respective  analyses  showing  that  the  “ oil  cake  ” 
“ E ” was  greatly  inferior  in  value.  Moreover,  while  “ D ” was 
a pure  and  good  cake,  “ E ” was  by  no  means  free  from  weed 
seeds. 
Hydrocyanic  Acid  {Prussic  Acid)  in  Linseed  Cake. 
Though  I have  specially  examined  numerous  samples  of 
linseed  cake  in  the  course  of  the  year  for  the  possible  presence 
of  substances  capable  of  developing  prussic  acid  and  thereby 
causing  harm  to  stock,  there  is  only  one  instance  in  which  I 
have  found  this  to  occur.  In  the  case  in  question  the  pur- 
chaser noted  an  unwillingness  exhibited  by  his  cattle  to  take 
the  cake  (a  new  delivery),  and,  on  sending  me  a sample  of  it, 
I found  that  it  certainly  did  develop  prussic  acid  in  measurable 
quantity.  The  cake  had  a distinctly  bitter  taste  and  yielded 
•022  per  cent,  of  prussic  acid,  equivalent  to  1’51  grains  per  lb. 
