6 
Colorado Experiment Station 
until the cells are full, and a perceptible movement is obvious. This honey 
is very thin and sour”. 
Cook^, in commenting on this phenomenon, attributes the 
trouble to bacteria, adding that, 
‘Tn the action of these germs, not only is acetic acid produced, but, as 
surely, carbon dioxide gas. Barrels of unripe honey are apt to burst from 
this cause”. 
Nussbaumer® has found several species of zygosaccharomycetes 
in honey, capable of inducing fermentation. 
Farnsteiner'^ has studied the changes produced in sour honey 
by pasteurization. 
Browne^®, who has made a very thoro study of the chemical 
composition of American honeys, explains the keeping quality of 
ripe honey, in a measure at least, thus : 
“Another modification produced in the nectar by the bees is the intro- 
duction of a minute quantity of formic acid. This acid is wanting in the 
pollen and nectar of flowers and is supposed to be introduced into the honey 
by the bee just previous to capping the cell. The formic acid thus introduced 
by the bee is supposed to act as a preservative and prevent the honey from 
fermeyiting”. 
These citations to the fermentation of honey have been intro- 
duced here as prima facie evidence in support of the contention 
that certain micro-organisms, at least, are able to Iwe in honey and 
when once established can bring about zvell recognized chemical 
changes. 
Browne gives the following composition of American 
honey : 
Invert sugar 74.44 per cent. 
Succrose 1.90 per cent. 
Moisture 17.59 per cent. 
Acidity (expressed as formic acid) varies from .04 to .25 
per cent, with an average of .09 per cent. 
To find bacteria thriving in as concentrated a solution as is 
represented by this analysis is rather unexpected, yet the facts 
in the case seem to bear this out with respect to the organisms 
mentioned above. 
The fate of the members of the typhoid-colon group in this 
medium will be considered in the pages which follow. 
Present Work 
Honey. — Extra fine, extracted, alfalfa honey, obtained directly 
from the producer in stock, five-pound tin pails, was used in the 
studv. It was very light in color and had been heated but slightly 
to facilitate the extraction. It crystallized readily at 20° C. and 
was weighed in this form for the different dilutions employed. 
