'*'™"/uiy!im^'^™'}       Detection  of  Saccharin  in  Beer.  35^ 
without  addition  of  salicylic  acid.  0*3  grm.  pancreatic  extract  in 
100  cc.  starch  solution  formed  sugar  equal  to  161*3  Fehling's  solu- 
tion ;  in  presence  of  one-thousandth  part  of  salicylic  acid,  no  sugar 
was  formed. 
The  President  said  that  the  paper  just  read  was  a  very  important 
one  in  many  respects,  and  he  was  glad  to  think  that  members  of  the 
Society  so  far  distant  as  Philadelphia  had  made  such  a  valuable  con- 
tribution to  the  proceedings. 
THE  DETECTION  OF  SACCHARIN  IN  BEER. 
By  a.  H.  Allen,  F.C  S.,  RLC 
Clause  5  of  the  Customs  and  Inland  Revenue  Act  has  special  refer- 
ence to  the  use  of  saccharin  as  a  sweetener  and  preservative  of  beer, 
and,  in  the  discussion  of  the  Bill  in  Committee,  on  April  27th,  Sir 
Lyon  Playfair,  who  was  supported  by  Sir  Henry  Roscoe,  contended 
that  it  was  a  mistake  to  prohibit  the  use  of  saccharin  instead  of  sugar, 
as  such  a  course  would  have  serious  deterrent  results  on  a  growing 
industry.  He  stated  that  foreign  brewers  were  using  saccharin  largely, 
and  that  it  could  be  manufactured  in  this  country  at  a  cost  of  20s.  to 
30s.  per  pound.  He  concluded  by  asserting  that  the  presence  of  sac- 
charin in  beer  was  very  difficult  to  detect,  and  that  there  was  another 
substance  which,  if  employed  in  conjunction  with  saccharin,  would 
absolutely  prevent  its  detection,  and  therefore  the  result  would  be  that 
if  its  use  were  not  regulated  the  Excise  would  be  defrauded.  In  con- 
sequence of  the  last  statement  I  wrote  to  Sir  Lyon  Playfair  asking 
what  was  the  substance  which  would  prevent  the  detection  of  saccharin 
if  used  in  conjunction  with  it,  and  learned  that  the  remark  had  applied 
to  salicylic  acid.  Under  these  circumstances  it  is  worthwhile  to  review 
shortly  the  analytical  characters  of  saccharin. 
Falberg's  saccharin,  we  all  know,  is  a  coal-tar  product,  of  which  the  sys- 
tematic name  is  benzoyl-sulphonic-imide.  It  is  the  anhydride  of  ortho- 
sulphamidobenzoic  acid,  and  forms  a  series  of  salts  as  sweet  as,  if  not 
sweeter  than,  itself.  The  sweet  taste  of  saccharin  is  variously  stated 
at  from  130  to  330  times  that  of  cane  sugar.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
some  saccharin  tabloids,  each  of  which  was  said  to  be  equivalent  in 
sweetening  power  to  a  lump  of  sugar,  were  found  to  have  an  average 
weight  of  0'45  grain  each,  while  an  average  lump  of  sugar  weighed 
