‘28 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
conclude that anyone can do as well after a 
little practice along this line. 
To keep the sun just right wheel the hive 
around a little, one way or tho other, for the 
time-being, where you have to work live or six 
hours at a time . — American Bee Journal, Any., 
1388. 
Borodino. N. V. 
NO I E > ON HONEY. 
TuK following notes on honey are taken from the 
reportof the Dairy Commissioner of New .Jersey, 
and tne analyses referred to were made by 
Shippen Wallace, Pii. D., one of the chemists to 
that commission : — 
To the State Dairy Commissioner : 
JSik — I have the honor to submit, in addition 
to the regular reports of analyses, the following 
notes on honey, and the methods of iesting that 
article ; also a few notes on vinegar. 
Shippxn Wallace, 
Analytical Chemist. 
HONEY. 
Honey consists of the saccharine substance 
collected by the bee (Apis meUifica) from the 
nectaries of flowers, and deposited by them in 
the cells of comb. While this is the commercial 
article, yet the production of honey is by no 
means limited to the bee, for there is a honey 
ant in Mexico which stores a nearly pure syrup 
of uncrystallizable sugar A. Vieliers has re- 
ported als » a honey from Ethiopia, which is the 
product of an insect resembling a laige mosquito, 
which, like our wasp, makes its nest in cavities 
in the ground. The natives call the honey 
“ tasiria, ’ and ascribe to it medicinal virtues, 
especially using it as a cure for sore throat. 
The composition of honey is complex, but the 
essential constituent is a mixture of dextrose and 
levulose ; and a solution possesses the physical 
property of turning the plane of polarized light 
to the left. This property furnishes an easy and 
accurate method for the detection of the adul- 
terated article, and, while I have never met with 
a known pure honey which was not lrevorotatory 
yet there are statements on record which claim 
that honey has been met with which was dextro- 
rotaiory. 
Honey is adulterated as much, if not more 
than most articles of food, and, while die adul- 
terant is harmless, yet the fraud to the purchaser 
remains. The Mibstances generally used are 
glucose and c me sugar. I lie former, on account 
of its low price, has been the most common, and 
mixed with enough of the genuine article to give 
it a flavor, is sold extensively as “ pui e extracted 
honey.’’ One will also find a small piece of 
genuine comb honey in a jar which is filled with 
glucose syrup. The honey iti the comb gradually 
diffuses itself through the mass giving the re 
quired JLvor. 
I have examined f rty-three sample' of honey 
the purity of which was unknown, and have also 
examined two samples of known purity. The 
method of analysis was as follows : A Soleil- 
Scheible pulariscope was use i, the normal weight 
for which is 26,045 grams ; that is to say, 26,048 
grams of cane sugar (sucrose) dissolved with 
100 c. c. water, and a tube 200 m. m. in length 
fillet i with the solution, will indicate 100 on the 
scale. Cane sugar and glucose will therefore 
indicate ‘‘plus” and •‘levulose” or honey will 
mark “ minus’’ the zero. The same weight of 
glucose will turn the plane so far to the right (or 
plus) that it will exceed 100. The commereial 
glucose, when the normal weight is used, will 
indicate from 153 to 170, according t<$ the greater 
I or lesser amount of dextrine present. Pure 
( honey will indicate from — 4 to — 15. Seldom, 
however, as low as — 15, but I have found this 
figure in old honey of undoubted purity, it will 
therefore readily be seen that owing to the high 
dextrorotatory power of glucose, that a com- 
paratively small amount will neutralize the 
iaevo-rotatory power of the honey, if added. The 
! same, of course, is true, if cane-sugar syrup is 
added, but in this case the indication will not 
exceed 100, as will be the case if a sufficient 
amount of glucose is present. 
The mode of procedure is as follows : — 26,048 
grams of the honey are taken, dissolved in a 
flask of 100 c. e. and the solution filtered through 
a small quantity of bone black in order to clarify 
j the solution. A tube of 200 m. m. is then filled 
with the solution and placed in the instrument 
and the instrument adjusted, the indication of 
the scale being noted. If minus,” we may 
assume that the sample is genuine, for while it 
is perfectly possible to produce a honey which is 
adulteiated, which will indicate “minus,” yet 
at present, after conversation with and inquiry 
from those engaged in the business of manufac- 
turing honey, I am of tiie opinion that the adul- 
teiation consists in the use of dextro-rotatory 
substances. If the indication of the scale is 
“ plus,” however, th >t will indicate that either 
cane sugar or glucose has been used, and if the 
scale indicates m ire than 100 the presence of 
glucose is conclusive, but if not we must proceed 
to learn which. This is accomplished as follows : 
A solution is prepared as stated, or 50 c. c. of 
the original solution is taken and treated with 
one-tenth volume of hydro-chloric acid, heated 
at a temperature of 80 de . 0. for a few minutes, 
cooled and re -polarized. If now the sc.de still 
reads to ihe right the presence of g ucose is 
assmed, while if to the left, cane sugar is shown 
to have been the cause of the original reading 
being to the right- 
The action of the acid is <o ‘‘invert” the cane 
sugar, that is to change it to a substance which 
no longer is dextro, but is lawa-rotatory, and 
which is termed invert sugar, and acts in the 
same manner as honey. While cane sugar can be 
added to a honey, which will not indicate *• plus” 
yet practically the amount used is so great that 
such is not likely to be the case. If such should 
be, however, by what is known to chemists as 
“ double polarization” would yield the amount, 
this being the method for determining the small 
amount naturally present, and if more than 5 
