786 Annual Rejmifor 1892 of the Consulting Chemist. 
see that every piece sent for analysis shall yield the minimum 
quantity of oil stipulated for. 
Again, I -would point out that when a guarantee of oil is given, 
the purchaser should insist not only upon the quantity of oil but 
also that the oil shall be jmre linseed oil. In a case which lately 
came under my notice, a so-called “ linseed-cake ” contained seeds of 
spurrey, earth-nut, rape, cockle, <tc., and the oil obtained from it, 
although it came up to the guaranteed amount, was very far from 
being pure linseed oil. 
Variations in Quality . — As instances of cakes of very different 
qualities, though sold at very similar prices, I append the following : — 
A 
B 
0 
Moisture 
8-85- 
10-95 
9-70 
Oil 
17-30 
7-30 
5-46 
Albuminous compounds 
29-02 
29-94 
37-25 
Mucilage, sugar, and digestible 
fibre 
29-95 
36 15 
34-69 
Woody fibre (cellulose) 
8-33 
8-96 
7-40 
Mineral matter (ash) . 
G55 
6-70 
5-50 
100-00 
100 00 
100-00 
' containing nitrogen . 4'Gl 
4-79 
6- 
96 
A. A rich, pure cake, costing, in December 1891, 9/. 12s. per ton at 
Bristol, or 10/. per ton delivered. 
B. A bard-pressed cake, costing, in December 1891, 10/. per ton 
delivered. 
C. A hard-pressed cake, sold at Inverness in February 1892, and costing 
nearly 11/. per ton before being delivered. 
It will be noticed how very much richer the cake marked A is than 
either of the others. 
Unsound Cakes. — An instance of the danger of using cakes which 
are in bad condition is afforded by the following case. 
In May 1892 a gentleman in Shropshire sent me a sample of 
linseed-cake, stating that he had lost nineteen sheep, and that the 
Avhole of his flock which had had the cake had been very ill. 
I found the cake to be not only impure by reason of its contain- 
ing rape, polygonum, and other weed-seeds, but it was mouldy and 
had a distinctly acid action. In addition, on the surface of the 
cake were a quantity of long hairs, pi’obably derived from the horse- 
hair bags in which the seed had been roughly crushed. The certi- 
ficate of the veterinary surgeon Avho saw the sheep stated that 
they had suffered from muco-enteritis, causing dysenteric diarrhoea, 
from which a large number had died or had to be slaughtered. 
Cotton Caices. 
Wool hi Cakes. — Reference has already been made to the occur- 
rence of wool in these cakes, due to the seed not having been properly 
