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ON THE COMPOSITION OP HONEY. 
the basic substances present, to oxidize the brown coloring 
matter, (of which however but a small quantity accompa- 
nies the most volatile part of the light coal naphtha,) and 
to remove such of the neutral oils as form compounds with 
oil of vitriol. Among these latter, an alliaceous oil, more 
volatile than benzole, is withdrawn, while the latter en- 
tirely resists the action of this acid even on being boiled 
with it. The nitric acid assists in the removal of the oxi- 
dable substances, and by forming a small quantity of fra- 
grant nitrobenzole, (which is left behind as residue on the 
distillation of the fluid,) improves the odor of the product. — 
Chem. Gaz.from the Quarterly Journ. of the Chem. Soc. 
ART. LXXX.— RESEARCHES ON THE COMPOSITION OF HONEY. 
By M. Soubeiran. 
The honey of bees contain two different sugars, the one 
solid, the other liquid. The former has been considered 
as identical with the granular sugar, which is deposited in 
the course of time from the syrup of the grape, or from the 
syrup of cane-sugar altered by acids. With respect to the 
liquid part of honey, it has been little examined. M. Biot, 
however, has ascertained that it consists of a sugar which 
turns the rays of polarized light to the left. 
The experiments contained in this memoir show that 
honey contains three distinct sugars, — first, the granular 
sugar, or glucose of chemists ; another sugar, with right- 
handed rotation, and which is alterable by acid ; and lastly, 
a sugar, the rotatory power of which is exerted towards the 
left, but with an energy almost double that of the sugar 
acted upon by acids. 
I found the sugar possessing a right-handed rotation, and 
which is capable of being altered, in ordinary honey ; but 
