VARIETIES AND CLARIFICATION OF HONEY. 
231 
Should too much water have evaporated, and the specific 
weight be found heavier than 1.300, sufficient water must 
be immediately added after the ebullition. If the specific 
weight be lower than this, the raw honey must have been 
watery and light. In that case proportionately less water 
should be employed from the beginning. 
In six or eight days the charcoal has settled to the bottom 
of the vessel, so that the now almost clear honey only re- 
quires to be poured upon a thick single or double woollen 
cloth, taking care not to disturb the sediment. From forty 
to fifty pounds of pure clear strained honey of 1.300 specific 
weight are obtained in a few hours. If brown honey was 
used, it appears after purification of a wine-yellow colour. 
White honey requires only half of the above-mentioned 
quantity of charcoal, consequently for twenty pounds of 
honey only one pound of charcoal is required, and the Mel 
depuratum thereby obtained is nearly colourless. 
By this process the honey undergoes no decomposition. 
It is well-known, however, that honey boiled, according to 
the old method, diluted with water, for a longer period in 
an open vessel, loses its balsamic fragrance, and in general 
undergoes a remarkable change. But the honey purified 
by Kohnke's method is deprived of all opaque and waxy 
particles, has a specific weight of 1,300, and retains its 
natural fragrance, although in a weaker degree, together 
with the agreeable taste of the raw honey. If one or two 
drachms of it be diluted with from four to six ounces of 
water, no flocculi are deposited. An especial proof of its 
strength and purity consists in its becoming again granular 
after it has been for some time exposed to a temperature of 
from 54° to 58°. 5 Fah. The residual charcoal and the filter 
or strainer should be washed with hot water in order to 
extract the residual honey, which may be employed for 
technical or economical purposes. The loss of honey, how- 
ever, is scarcely worth consideration. — Pharm. Journ.from 
Buchner's Repertorium. 
