•500 Annual Report for 1908 of the Consulting Chemist. 
3. Cotton Cake. 
An instance was brought to my notice in which cotton 
cake was believed to have done injury to stock. On examina- 
tion of the cake I found in it a small amount of .castor oil bean. 
The occurrence of this seed in cotton cake is, however, 1 must 
say, according to my experience, quite exceptional. 
4. Castor Bean. 
The not unfrequent occurrence of castor oil bean in 
different feeding materials has drawn particular attention to 
the circumstances under which this seed may find its way into 
cargoes of other seeds used for the manufacture of feeding 
stuffs. 
Doubts have, further, been expressed as to whether it is 
really necessary to take such rigid precautions as are at present 
observed for the exclusion of castor bean, and whether it 
possesses in full the dangerous properties which have been 
always attributed to it, chiefly by agricultural chemists. More 
recently, however, it has been maintained that, by a new process 
for extracting the oil entirely from the castor bean, the in- 
jurious qualities are altogether removed, and the resulting meal 
is a quite fit material for feeding purposes. 
While not inclined — as the result of my experience in the 
past — to modify materially my views as to the dangerous 
properties of castor bean when it occurs in feeding materials, 
and while I think that its presence in them should be rigidly 
guarded against, I yet feel that the question raised is an 
important one, and one which is fully worthy of further 
investigation. Still, if it be the case that the removal of the 
oil takes away also any risk of poisoning, it is clear that every- 
thing will depend upon whether an assurance can be given 
that the whole of the meal has been thoroughly extracted, and 
that none has escaped the action of the solvent process. 
5. Bran. 
The preference by many purchasers for what is known as a 
“bold” bran, more especially for the feeding of hunters, 
occasions a special demand for a large or coarse bran, this 
fetching a higher price than ordinary kinds. In this con- 
nection it was brought to my notice that, with the object of 
meeting this demand, there existed a practice of damping the 
smaller bran with water, and then rolling the pieces together 
in order to make the bran look larger. I had such a sample 
submitted to me, but may say that I had no difficulty in 
detecting when this had been done. 
6. Sharps. 
A sample sent me of what had been sold as “ Fine Sharps ” 
was found not to be a pure sample, but to contain both rice 
