258  An  Adulteration  of  Cream  of  Tartar.  \  A^uJn0™; fljg^ 
SOLUTION  OF  ISINGLASS  IN  WATER. 
By  C.  Carroll  Meter. 
From  an  Inaugural  Essay. 
One  hundred  grains  each  of  the  following  kinds,  American  ribbon^, 
American  sheet,  Russian  and  Prussian(?)  isinglass  were  treated  separ- 
ately, first  with  f^viii  of  water  to  soften,  then  fjviii  more  of  water 
were  added  and  boiled  until  all  soluble  matter  was  extracted,  then 
filtered,  and  the  following  table  will  show  the  solubility  of  the  dif- 
ferent kinds  experimented  with : 
Isinglass. 
Quantity  used. 
Soluble. 
Insoluble. 
American  strip, 
100  grs. 
70  grs. 
30  grs. 
"  sheet, 
100  " 
82  " 
18  " 
Russian, 
100  " 
88  " 
12  « 
Prussian, 
100  " 
80  " 
20  " 
From  the  foregoing  experiments  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Russian  is 
the  most  soluble  and  the  American  strip  the  least  soluble. 
The  bladder  of  a  hake  fish,  weighing  gxv,  was  washed  with  water 
to  remove  salt,  and  boiled  with  sufficient  water  until  all  soluble  matter 
was  obtained,  then  filtered,  and  found  to  contain  %i  of  insoluble 
matter. 
As  aqueous  solutions  are  prone  to  decompose,  experiments  were 
made  to  see  if  anything  would  arrest  decomposition,  and  glycerin  was 
found  to  answer  very  well  in  the  proportion  of  one  part  glycerin 
to  fifteen  parts  solution  of  isinglass.  Solutions  to  which  glycerin 
was  added  kept  sweet  and  were  quite  palatable,  while  those  to  which 
no  glycerin  had  been  added  soon  decomposed,  and  became  quite  of- 
fensive to  both  taste  and  smell. 
AN  ADULTERATION  OF  OREAM  OF  TARTAR. 
By  George  W.  Kennedy. 
A  sample  of  cream  of  tartar  was  handed  me  by  a  merchant  of  our 
town,  with  the  request  that  I  should  examine  it  and  give  my  opinion 
as  to  its  purity.  I  tasted  it  and  at  once  discovered  that  it  was  an 
adulterated  article.  The  taste  was  decidedly  acid  and  astringent ;  in 
appearance  it  was  rather  lumpy,  resembling  cream  of  tartar  that  had 
