96 THE ANALYST. CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editors of THE ANALYST. COCOA-NUT OIL IN LARD COMPOUNDS. SIRs,-In the February issue of THE ASALYST I see that the question of cocoa-nut oil as a lard adulterant has again come up for discussion. As there seem to be very few recorded instances of the presence of this substance in lard compounds, the following example, which I came across a few years ago, may be of interest to your readers. Dr. Wiley, in his exhaustive report on American lard (United States Department of Agriculture, Div. Chem., Bidletin 13), says : " I t is probable that in this country lard is never adulterated with cocoa-nut oil for commercial purposes," and, as far as I know, there have been, 80 far, no cases reported from this continent. The sample in question was taken in St.John's, New Brunswick, and was said to have been manufactured by Chase and Deecken, of New York. It was not sent to me until some four months had elapsed since its purchase, and when received it was in a rancid condition The material was strikingly hard, and had a slightly yellowish colour. It contained 8.44 per cent, of water and 057 substances insoluble in ether. The filtered fat had a pale, lemon- yellow colour when cold, a melting-point between 46" and 47" C. and a specific gravity a t 99.5" C. (water at 4" C.=l), 0,86449. With the Becchi silver test a walnut coloration was produced, but the reduction took place very slowly. The Hub1 number came out 47.8 and the saponification equivalent 259. The crystals deposited from ethereal solution were unlike those from either pure lard or the ordinary lard compounds.Now, though many market samples of lard compound nearly reach the above specific gravity, and the iodine number of a genuine lard may perhaps be as low as 48, yet no possible mixture of lard, stearine, and cotton-seed oil could give both these numbers. I came t o the conclusion that the mixture contained about one-third its weight of cocoa-nut oil and a moderate amount of cotton-seed oil. It is. I believe, claimed that cocoa-nut oil may be so treated as to destroy its characteristic taste and odour. In this instance, though the taste was not apparent at first-perhaps owing to the rancid condition of the sample--the material left a persistent and unmistakable after- taste of cocoa-nut. I may add that it is contrary to my ordinary experience to find more than traces of water in American lard compounds, hhough I have sometimes found as much as 30 per cent. EDGAR B. KENRICK. St. John's College, Winnipeg, March 6, 1895.