360 
Insect  Powders  of  Commerce. 
Am.  Jour.  Pbarm. 
July,  1897. 
reader  than  to  provide  him  with  such  information  as  will  enable  him 
to  distinguish  the  true  powder  from  sophistications,  which  are  still 
as  common,  although  changed  in  character,  as  they  have  been  at  any 
time  since  the  Persian  powder  gave  way  to  its  honester  rival.  To 
any  one  who  has  worked  on  this  subject  for  a  few  years,  the  last 
paragraph  may  appear  to  be  superfluous,  but  it  is  evident  that  there 
is  still  a  plentiful  lack  of  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  majority  of 
buyers,  or  it  would  be  impossible  to  account  on  any  other  hypothesis 
for  the  enormous  amount  of  grossly  sophisticated  insect  powder  which 
is  sold  as  genuine  every  season.1 
The  object  I  have  had  in  view  in  recording  the  results  of  several 
years'  attention  to  this  subject,  is  to  provide  a  ready  means  of  quickly 
and  cheaply  ascertaining  if  a  given  sample  of  insect  powder  is  what 
it  is  represented  to  be  by  the  seller,  but  before  proceeding  to  this 
part  of  the  subject,  it  will  be  profitable  to  briefly  set  forth  the 
results  of  the  work  of  other  investigators.  These  references  will 
not  be  by  any  means  exhaustive  of  the  subject,  but  will  include 
most  of  the  literary  notices  which  have  come  within  my  own  knowl- 
edge. 
1  While  engaged  in  preparing  this  paper  for  the  press,  a  curious  confirmation 
of  my  contention  has  been  supplied  by  a  correspondence  with  a  provincial  firm 
of  dealers  in  insect  powder.  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  the  bona  fides  of  the 
firm,  and  must  therefore  conclude  that  such  large  sellers  of  insect  powder  as 
they  claim  to  be  are  yet  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  characteristics  of  true 
insect  powder.  I  fear  my  charity  is  not  sufficiently  broad  to  give  credit  for 
good  faith  in  this  firm's  opinion  on  the  London  trade  in  insect  powder  !  The 
following  short  extracts  are  reproduced  from  this  correspondence  :  In  reply  to 
my  request  for  samples  and  quotations,  "  Thank  you  for  your  enquiry,  and  are 
sending  samples  of  insect  powder  from  closed  flowers,  100  s.  per  cwt. ,  and  from 
half  open  flowers  at  75  s.  per  cwt." 
My  reply  to  this  quotation  expressed  regret  at  the  misleading  description,  as 
both  samples  were  grossly  adulterated,  which  drew  a  most  indignant  letter. 
"  In  reply  to  your  letter,  we  think  the  party  conducting  the  analysis  must  have 
made  some  miscalculation,  as  we  are  direct  importers  from  Austria,  and  have, 
from  the  grinders  there,  the  fullest  assurance  of  its  genuineness,  and  that  the 
'  closed  '  and  '  half-closed  '  are  from  flowers  of  that  description  and  from  flowers 
only.  We  have  sold  the  same  article  for  seven  years,  and  our  sale  has  greatly 
increased.  As  regards  the  London  price  for  insect  powder,  the  import  offered 
in  London  is  second  rate,  both  in  quality  and  quantity,  and  consists  only  of  odd 
lots  that  have  passed  through  several  dealers'  hands.  We  write  strongly  on 
this  subject  because  we  should  not  have  been  able  to  advance  our  trade  in  this 
article  to  its  present  state  if  we  had  been  capable  of  misdescription  !  " 
