ON  HONEY,  ITS  FORMATION  AND  CHANGES. 
533 
is  a  solid  mass  of  crystals,  and  is  then  said  to  "  set."  After  a 
time,  say  twelve  months  after  being  gathered,  so  much  is  changed 
into  masses  of  glucose  crystals  that  it  "  candies." 
The  glucose  itself  begins  to  ferment  and  form  other  compounds. 
The  examination  of  a  little  under  the  microscope  now  shows  tufts 
here  and  there  of  acicular  four-sided  prisms,  which  are  the  hexa- 
tomic  alcohol,  mannite. 
Ci2H240i2+H4  =  2(C6HU06). 
Grape  sugar.  Mannite. 
Decomposition  goes  further  still  in  very  old  or  badly-kept 
honey ;  fermentation  sets  in,  carbonic  acid  is  given  off,  and  alco- 
hol, with  acetic  acid,  will  be  distinctly  perceived. 
C12H24012  =  4  (C2H5HO)  +  4C02. 
Glucose.  Alcohol. 
Then  afterwards — 
C2II5HO  +  02=C2H402  +  H20. 
Alcohol.  Acetic  acid. 
The  fluid  part  of  old  honey  is  laevulose,  or  left-handed  glucose. 
It  is  uncrystallizable,  and  turns  the  polarized  ray  to  the  left  in- 
stead of  the  right. 
The  pollen-grains  may  be  easily  separated  for  examination  by 
dissolving  a  little  honey  in  a  few  drops  of  distilled  water  put  into 
a  conical  glass.  They  collect  at  the  bottom,  very  little  altered, 
and  ready  for  transferring  to  the  usual  glass  slip. 
From  all  that  has  been  said,  therefore,  honey  is  originally 
formed  from  a  solution  of  cane  sugar  (sucrose),  which  gradually 
changes  into  grape  sugar  (glucose),  and  forming,  as  it  proceeds, 
a  small  portion  of  mannite,  formic  acid,  and  alcohol. 
The  color  and  flavor  are  both  due  to,  and  derived  from,  the 
aroma  of  the  flowers  which  the  bees  have  visited. 
Such  ought  honey  to  be  ;  but,  alas,  like  other  things,  the 
adulterator  has  found  it  a  good  field  for  his  exertion.  I  have 
often  examined  specimens  adulterated  with  pea-  or  bean-flour, 
turmeric,  pipe-clay,  brown  sugar,  treacle,  gypsum,  yellow  ochre, 
fine  sand,  and  water.  (On  the  table  were  specimens  of  pipe-clay, 
yellow  ochre,  gypsum,  and  sand,  that  had  been  separated  from 
honey  bought  in  Bristol  and  London.) 
