Am  jour  Pharm.  |     Commercial  Glucose  and  its  Uses.  269 
June,  lylo.  j 
or  sulphuric  acid  than  with  hydrochloric,  since  an  excess  of  the  latter 
tends  to  produce  a  green  color. 
4.  Any  considerable  excess  of  ferric  salts  should  be  avoided  in 
testing  for  a  cyanide. 
5.  Application  of  heat  is  not  necessary  in  testing  for  a  cyanide  by 
the  method  described. 
6.  The  presence  of  certain  salts,  particularly  potassium  chloride, 
in  the  liquid  to  be  tested,  has  proved  to  be  of  great  advantage. 
7.  The  method  furnishes  a  very  delicate  qualitative  test  for  the 
presence  of  a  cyanide. 
8.  The  method  is  suitable  for  the  estimation  of  very  small  quanti- 
ties of  a  cyanide  in  distillates. 
9.  The  test  as  described  herein  can  be  applied  microchemically  to 
sections  of  cyanogenetic  plants. 
Bureau  of  Chemistry, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
COMMERCIAL  GLUCOSE  AND  ITS  USES.1 
By  George  W.  Rolfe. 
A  Much  Misunderstood  and  Maligned  Product — Necessary  for 
Certain  Food  Staples  and  a  Good  Substitute  for 
More  Expensive  Ingredients. 
Most  well-informed  people  know  that  in  the  early  part  of  the  last 
century  KirchofT  was  the  first  to  describe  a  sugar  made  by  boiling 
starch  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  and  that  this  sweet,  subsequently 
found  to  be  other  than  cane-sugar,  was  called  "  glucose  "  or  "  grape- 
sugar."  Later  it  was  termed  "  dextrose  "  when  in  the  progress  of 
science  it  became  necessary  to  distinguish  the  individual  from  a 
whole  family  of  "  glucoses  "  which  had  been  discovered. 
Nowadays,  most  of  us  have  heard  of  "  glucose  "  as  a  commercial 
product  of  doubtful  reputation.  People  look  askance  when  glucose 
is  mentioned.  Confectioners  and  grocers  make  haste  to  deny  that 
glucose  ever  appears  in  their  products.  Glucose  is  classed  with 
harmful  food  adulterants,  and  has  been  called  by  pure  food  experts 
the  "  champion  adulterant  "of  all.  It  has  been  depicted  in  cartoons  as 
a  devil  with  hoofs  and  horns.    Glucose  has  also  been  called  "  mu- 
*  Reprinted  from  Science  Conspectus,  vol.  5,  No.  1. 
