HONEY  AND  ITS  ADULTERATIONS. 
39 
No.  5,  macerated  in  cold  water  one  hour,  boiled  15  minutes, 
138  grains. 
No.  6,  boiled  15  minutes  without  previous  maceration,  130  grs. 
That  No.  4  should  yield  an  average  of  5  grains  more  extract 
than  No.  3,  although  macerated  for  a  shorter  time,  is  strange, 
and  can,  I  think,  be  best  accounted  for  by  supposing  some  differ- 
ence in  quality  in  the  materials  used,  which  escaped  observation, 
— probably  in  the  liquorice  root.  In  both  experiments  the  yield 
was  in  excess  of  No.  3. 
The  results  may  thus  be  summed  up  :  No.  2  yields  four  grains 
more  of  extract  to  the  pint  than  the  officinal  decoction,  and  is 
made  in  two  hours, — one-sixth  of  the  time.  No.  3,  eleyen^grains 
less  than  the  officinal  ;  time,  one  hour.  No.  4,  six  grains  less  ; 
time,  half  an  hour.  No.  5,  sixteen  grains  less ;  time,  one  and  a 
quarter  hours.  No.  6,  twenty-four  grains  less  ;  time,  fifteen 
minutes. 
The  difference  of  yield  is  very  slight,  even  when  the  time  is 
reduced  to  an  hour  or  half-hour.  I  can  see  no  reason  why,  in  a 
future  revision  of  the  Pharmacopoeia,  the  time  should  not  be 
shortened  ;  doubtless  every  pharmaceutist  who  has  been  in  the 
habit  of  following  the  directions  at  present  given,  would  hail  the 
change  with  pleasure. 
Samples  of  the  decoctions  are  here  submitted  for  inspection. 
— Proc.  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1867. 
ON  HONEY  AND  ITS  ADULTERATIONS. 
By  Jervis  W.  Colby. 
Query  8th. — For  some  years  past  commercial  honey  has  frequently 
been  a  subject  of  adulteration.    What  is  the  present  condition  of  the 
trade  in  this  article,  foreign  and  domestic,  and  what  are  the  adulterations 
made  ? 
Of  foreign  commercial  honey,  West  India  alone  is  brought  to 
this  market,  principally  from  Cuba  and  St.  Domingo.  It  is 
always  strained  and,  of  the  two,  St.  Domingo  is  the  lighter, 
both  in  color  and  body  ;  they  rate  about  the  same,  if  anything, 
St.  Domingo  is  a  little  the  higher.  The  principal  consumers  are 
brewers,  not  only  in  this  country,  but  it  is  exported  from  this 
port  to  Europe,  mostly  to  Germany. 
