32 THE ANALYST. NOTE ON A SAMPLE OF SUPPOSED LARD. BY BENEDICT KITTO, F.I.C. LARD, being a substance which easily lends itself to various forms of sophistication, has from time to time given public analysts a considerable amount of work ; and it is no doubt advisable that any peculiarity observed in samples should be brought to the notice of the members of our society. It was suggested to me by our former president (Mr. Hehner) that a recent experience of mine should be so notified. A sample of '' lard " was submitted to me for analysis, under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, which, when subjected to the iodine absorption test, was found to take up 14.96 per cent. only of iodine. Having thus found that it was not pure lard, Reichert's test was applied, and the 2g grammes operated upon required 4.4 C.C.of decinormal alkali. These results at once pointed to cocoa-nut oil. The sp. gr. at 100" C. was *868, and the melting-point 27.5". The potassic hydrate neutralized was 22-95 per cent., showing a saponification equivalent of 244. Having no cocoa-nut oil by me for comparative tests, I went round to Mr. Hehner's laboratory, and he very kindly supplied me with a deodorized sample, and, I may add, ever willing to place his great experience at the service of his brother analysts, offered to go through the iodine absorption and Reichert's tests on aTHE ANALYST. 33 -- ._ __________ portion of the sample, at the same time pointing out to me the harshness observable upon pressing the knife against the cocoa-nut oil, as if it had a crystalline structure.This feeling was also very marked when I tried my own sample. Mr. Hehner’s tests confirmed my own. There was a taste noticeable in the sample which I could not recognise, but no distinct smell. Although most of the tests corresponded fairly well with the results obtained from the cocoa-nut oil, the iodine absorption was much higher, owing probably to the admixture of a small proportion of cotton-seed oil-Becchi’s silver nitrate test having pointed, though not conclusively, in that direction-or possibly to a little lard oil. I reported the sample to be almost entirely composed of prepared cocoa-nut oil, and therefore not lard at all; and I believe this was not disputed in court. A conviction of the seller followed. So far as I know, this is the first case for some years where cocoa-nut oil has been detected doing service in this direction. About six years ago, Mr. A. H. Allen communicated to this society a case in which he found 33 per cent. of cocoa-nut oil as an adulteration in lard (ANALYST, xij., 189) ; but I have not heard of its having been noticed since that time until this sample was analysed.