Aru .  Jour.  Phariri .  \ 
December,  1S98.  / 
Cane  Sugar  in  Official  Syrups. 
591 
cent,  of  inverted  sugar  after  standing  two  months  with  exposure  to 
summer  heat. 
A  dark  brown  specimen,  about  ten  months  old,  was  found  to 
contain  50-4  per  cent. 
SYRUP  OF  THE  HYPOPHOSPHITES. 
This  preparation,  as  prepared  by  the  pharmacopceial  method, 
hardly  deserves  to  be  called  syrup,  containing  only  50  per  cent,  cane 
sugar. 
Singularly  enough  this  official  acid  syrup  differed  from  the  others 
so  far  examined  by  showing  no  signs  of  color  change. 
A  specimen  of  the  syrup,  contained  in  a  partly  filled  bottle  and 
exposed  to  every  condition  of  temperature  during  eighteen  months, 
still  retains  its  original  colorless  appearance  while  giving  evidence 
of  decomposition  otherwise. 
This  is  probably  due  to  the  small  percentage  of  free  acid  in  the 
syrup. 
With  the  well-known  Churchill's  syrup  of  the  hypophosphites, 
which  contains  a  larger  quantity  of  free  acid,  the  case  is  different, 
the  writer  having  found  this  preparation  to  turn  to  a  decided  straw 
color,  with  a  final  deposit  of  grape  sugar  in  cold  weather. 
Examination  as  to  the  amount  of  inverted  sugar  in  the  official 
syrup  gave  the  oiiovving  results  : 
A  sample  six  months  old  contained  20-8  per  cent.,  while  one  of 
about  eighteen  months  showed  29  per  cent. 
Progressive  inversion  was  not  studied  in  the  official  syrup. 
It  was,  however,  recently  undertaken  in  Churchill's  syrup,  pre- 
pared by  cold  percolation. 
The  first  portions  of  the  syrup,  dropping  from  the  percolator,  re- 
sponded but  feebly  to  Fehling's  solution. 
A  contact  of  eighteen  hours,  however,  revealed  an  inverted  sugar 
percentage  of  2-,  while  when  forty-eight  hours  old  the  syrup  was 
found  to  contain  3  per  cent. 
On  standing  four  days,  the  percentage  was  found  to  be  increased 
to  7-8  per  cent.,  and  in  ten  days  to  181  per  cent. 
Recent  examination,  seventeen  days  after  preparation,  showed 
27-7  per  cent. 
Other  specimens  of  Churchill's  syrup  examined  gave  the  follow- 
ing figures : 
