40  ERGOT. 
It  is  now  quoted  at  57  @  60  cts.  gold  per  gallon,  in  bond,  80 
@  85  cts.  gold  or  $1.15  @  $1.25  currency,  duty  paid  ;  the  duty 
20  cts.  per  gallon. 
Domestic  honey  is  now,  for  the  greater  part,  furnished  by  the 
northern  States,  although  there  is  some  southern  honey  in  the 
market.  There  is  not  the  organized  trade  in  domestic  that 
exists  in  West  India,  and  no  domestic  is  exported. 
The  market  for  all  kinds  of  honey  is  at  present  poorly 
supplied,  it  being  in  advance  of  the  season. 
Adulterations. — In  foreign  and  home  publications,  in  which  I 
have  found  articles  on  the  subject,  a  great  variety  of  adultera- 
tions are  mentioned,  among  which  are  cane  sugar,  different  forms 
of  starch,  chalk,  plaster  of  Paris,  pipe  clay,  gypsum,  &c,  &c.  The 
largest  dealers  in  foreign  honey  claim  to  know  no  such  thing  as 
adulterated  Cuban  honey,  and,  after  examining  many  specimens, 
I  have  not  found  one  adulterated. 
The  same  cannot  be  said  of  domestic,  which  is  occasionally 
adulterated  with  some  form  of  starch,  to  increase  bulk  and 
weight,  also  to  improve  the  color  and  to  correct  any  acidity  it 
may  have  acquired.  But  cane  sugar  as  syrup  is  almost  the  only 
adulteration  made  use  of;  this  is  not  uncommon  in  domestic,  and 
is  found  in  almost  all  proportions,  from  an  entirely  fictitious 
article  down,  a  favorite  plan  being  honey  4  parts,  white  sugar  3 
parts,  water  4  parts;  heat.  It  is  customary  to  flavor  both,  ficti- 
tious and  adulterated,  with  peppermint. 
The  presence  of  either  cane  sugar  or  starch  is  readily  shown, 
and  aside  from  these  I  think  we  need  not  mistrust  that  our  honey 
is  adulterated. — Proc.  Amer.  Pharm.  Assoc.,  1867. 
ERGOT. 
By  James  W.  Mill. 
Query  16. — Can  the  existing  pharmaceutical  preparations  of  Ergot  be 
improved,  if  studied  in  the  light  offered  by  W.  T.  Wenzell,  and  can  a 
solid  permanent  preparation  of  Ergot  be  made,  representing  its  alkaloids 
in  a  solid  form  ? 
The  officinal  preparations  of  Ergot  are  the  wine  and  fluid  ex- 
tract. The  wine  is  obtained  by  simply  percolating  the  drug 
with  sherry  wine,  and  the  desired  result  is  well  enough  attained 
