^ugTtims™'}   Detection  of  Cane  Sugar  in  Honey.  377 
normally  existing  in  the  honey  or  in  the  shape  of  cane  or  beet 
sugar  and  as  it  is  the  amount  rather  than  the  actual  presence 
which  decides  the  genuineness  of  the  article,  the  only  tests  of 
value  are  the  quantitative  tests,  even  were  qualitative  tests  possible, 
which  they  are  not. 
The  best  method  for  the  determination  of  cane  sugar  is  by  the 
use  of  the  polariscope  and  the  use  of  an  algebraic  formula  in  con- 
nection with  the  figures  obtained  for  the  optical  rotation  before  and 
after  inversion,  observations  being  made  at  the  same  temperatures. 
By  inversion,  of  course,  is  meant  the  hydrolysis  of  sucrose 
which,  when  heated  with  diluted  acids,  is  converted  into  dextrose 
and  levulose,  the  levulose  being  in  excess  and  the  mixture  of  the 
two  resulting  sugars  therefore  possessing  a  levorotatory  power  in 
contradistinction  to  the  dextrorotatory  power  of  sucrose. 
As  honey  consists  largely  of  invert  sugar  (from  50  to  80  per 
cent.),  and  as  invert  sugar  is  readily  prepared  from  cane  sugar  in 
large  quantities,  it  seldom  happens  that  such  a  clumsy  method  of 
adulterating  honey  as  by  the  addition  of  cane  sugar  direct  is  prac- 
tised, when  it  is  possible  to  convert  the  same  sugar  into  invert 
sugar  and  thus  simply  add  a  sugar  which  is  normally  present  in  the 
honey.  Invert  sugar,  like  sucrose,  is  the  same  chemically,  whether 
existing  naturally  or  prepared  artificially  from  sucrose,  and  it 
would  be  impossible  to  detect  added  invert  sugar  in  honey  were  it 
not  for  the  fact  that  in  the  process  of  inversion  by  any  of  the 
artificial  methods,  a  small  amount  of  furfuraldehyde  is  produced, 
and  as  furfuraldehyde  is  never  present  in  genuine  honey  and  as  it 
can  be  detected  in  very  minute  amounts  and  with  as  great  certainty 
as  is  the  case  with  formaldehyde,  it  is  customary  to  apply  a  test 
for  the  presence  or  absence  of  furfuraldehyde  before  deciding 
whether  a  honey  is  or  is  not  genuine,  even  if  the  proportions  and 
kinds  of  sugars  are  normal. 
Such  a  test  was  years  ago  devised  by  C.  A.  Browrne  2  and  is  as 
follows : 
Treat  5  Cc.  of  a  1 :  1  solution  of  the  honey  in  distilled  water,  in  a  test 
tube  with  2  Cc.  of  aniline  acetate  reagent  (freshly  prepared  for  the  test  by 
mixing  5  Cc.  of  aniline  and  5  Cc.  of  water  and  adding  just  sufficient  glacial 
acetic  acid  to  make  a  clear  solution),  allowing  the  reagent  to  flow  into  the 
tube  gently  so  as  to  form  a  separate  layer  upon  the  honey  solution.    If  the 
2U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agriculture,  Bureau  of  Chemistry,  Bulletin  no,  p.  68. 
