24 
THE ELA10METER. 
ART. IX.— THE ELAIOMETER. 
C An Instrument for detecting the Adulteration of Olive Oil. J 
By M. Gobel. 
The price of olive oil is sufficiently high to lead to its 
admixture with cheaper oils. The oil of poppy-seeds is 
that which is usually employed for this adulteration, as it 
has the advantages of being cheap, of having a sweet taste, 
and very little smell. 
Several methods have been proposed for detecting this 
fraud. Messrs. Soubeiran and Blondeau, who tried all the 
different processes for this purpose, found that the method 
founded on the difference in the degrees of viscosity in 
olive oil and oil of poppy-seeds, and the method of Poutet, 
afforded the most certain indications as to the purity of 
olive oil. 
The first of these processes consists, as is known, in put- 
ting the suspected oil into a bottle, and introducing bubbles 
of air into the oil by shaking the bottle. When the olive 
oil is pure, the bubbles disappear as they rise to the surface 
of the liquid ; whereas they continue for some time if the 
oil be mixed with oil of poppy seeds. But this method 
can only be applied in cases where at least a tenth part of 
poppy oil has been added. 
Poutet's process consists in mixing the oil with a twelfth 
of its weight of a solution of mercury, made in the pro- 
portion of six parts of mercury to seven and a half parts 
of nitric acid, sp. gr. 1.35; the solution of the mercury is 
allowed to take place spontaneously, and is then used im- 
mediately. The mixture should be shaken every ten 
minutes during a period of two hours ; it is then to be put 
into a cold cellar, and in twenty-four hours afterwards its 
