摘要:

THE ANALYST. APRIL 1893. ON THE USE OF CHRYSOTILE FIBRE IN PROXIMATE ORGANIC ANALYSIS. BY THOMAS MACFARLANE F.R.S.C. Chief Analyst Inland Revenue Department, Ottawa Canada. (Read at the Meeting December 7th 1892.) FIVE years ago I read a paper on Milk Analysis before the Royal Society of Canada, which is published iu their Transactions for 1887. The method there described involved the use of asbestos or rather chrysotile fibre as an absorbent and this substance has since been found so useful in the examination of other substances chiefly foods in the Labora-tory of the Inland Reveniie Department at Ottawa that I believe a description of the manner of applying it will be found interesting to the members of the Society of Public Analysts Of course asbestos properly so-called has been used for many purposes by chemists and especially for forming the filtering layer in the Gooch crucible.The fibre so used is frequently called Italian asbestos and belongs to the mineral species horn-blende oractinolite. It is not changed by ignition and is not nearly so flexible as the fibre derived from chrysotile. Chrysotile is the fibrous variety of serpentine loses 12 per cent. combined water on ignition and is then easily rubbed to powder between th 74 THE ANALYST. fingers It is extensively mined in South Eastern Quebec where it is found of a quality adapted for spinning and other finer manufacturing purposes. After being freed from rock and dust by grinding sifting and teasing it assumes a woolly appearance ; the fibres are silky and flexible adhere to each other and are quite destitute of the brittle-ness observed in glass wool slag wool or Italian asbestos.It cannot be called hygroscopic, for after long exposure to the atmosphere it contains only 0.57 per cent. moisture. The quantity used for an ordinary milk analysis is 2.5 grammes which could only absorb by very long exposure 14 mgr. The change of weight during weighing must be therefore only infinitesimal. The chrysotile fibre is at present obtainable in London at the ofice of Messrs. Bolling and Lowe 2 Laurence Pountney Hill and it costs not more than 1Od. per lb. The use of chrysotile fibre as described in this paper is as tt substitute for barytes, sand powdered glass calcined gypsum &c. for absorbing and attenuating organic substances so that their water may be conveniently removed and estimated and so that the solvents used in their analysis may effectively permeate and act upon them.The advantage of the fibre is in serving this purpose in an eminent degree while at the same time saving the chemist very much time as well as trouble in manipulation. It is also to be remembered that the very complete drying effected by its means is of the greatest advantage in the operations to which the substance under examination may afterwards be subjected. I shall describe the manner of using it under the heads of the various substances in the examination of which it has been successfully applied. I.-MILK. The chrysotile process of analysing milk has now been in use for over five years in the lnland Revenue Laboratory as well as for a somewhat shorter time in that of the Depart-ment of Agriculture.It has been voluntarily adopted by all the public analysts in Canada as well as by some in the United States. It has of course undergone slight modifications since first introduced mostly for the purpose of saving time in treating a large number of samples These are sometimes received a t the rate of twenty or thirty a day in our laboratory at Ottawa and I shall first describe the method as applied in this case. $amples are received from dl parts of thc Dominim zs far east as Sydneyj N.S., and as far west as Regina in Assiniboia. They are always packed in ice and arrive as a rule in good condition. Very likely however this packing in ice will be dispensed with in the near future because on testing the method of preserving milk for analysis by introducing a small quantity of bichromate of potash as proposed by Dr.J. E. A l h , of Gothenburg I obtained very satisfactory results. This method will be found described in the Deutsche Molkerei Zeitung of 1892 pp. 224 and 416. The glass tube used in the analysis for containing the chrysotile fibre has the shape It is 40 mm. in diameter 35 mm. in depth of bulb and size shown in the figure THE ANALYST. 75 ' and 42 mm. in total depth to the end of the small tube. These tubes are made of well-annealed glass, and after being numbered with a diamond and loosely filled with the chrysotile fibre they are placed, to the number of 20 each in copper trays or racks, measuring 9 inches by 76 inches and having sides one inch deep from which copper wires are stretched across dividing the tray into 20 rectangular spaces.Four of these trays can be placed one above another, in an ordinary box water bath measuring 9; by 7$ by 8 inches inside. The bath or oven we use is of this size contains 80 tubes and is supplied with a Soxhlet metallic back-flow condenser, so that it can be kept at work for days continuously. Two extra trays have been found necessary when the samples are sent in rapidly and as many as 120 tubes have been in use at one and the same time. After having been thoroughly dried a tray with its 20 tubes is removed from the bath and the tubes placed in a desiccator to cool. Each tube is then weighed and re-placed on the tray. This weight which inclades both tube and chrysotile contents I prefer to take in grains for the purpose of savir,g calculation afterwards.The quantity of milk used for each analysis is then run into the tubes as they stand in the tray from a 10 C.C. pipette which delivers exactly or very nearly 10 grammes. Of course the point must be ascertained by experiment up to which the pipette must be filled in order to deliver this quantity. It is usually about three-eighths of an inch below the ordinary mark when the pipette is allowed ten seconds to drain. The sample is thoroughly mixed and the pipette washed out with it before filling each tube with the 10 grammea. Each sample is usually assayed in duplicate and in this way 20 tubes representing 10 samples are quite rapidly filled. The samples have usually consecutive numbers and so have the tubes as they stand in the racks from left to right.By adhering t o this system there is little or no risk of inter-changing the samples or tubes. The chrysotile fibre rapidly absorbs the milk and if the tube has been properly packed with it nothing escapes a t the lower end. I n the case of sour milk there is however danger of this and in this case a larger quantity of fibre must be used and the curd mixed with i t by gently stirring the assay with the point of the pipette. After filling the 20 tubes the tray is replaced in the water bath and left there during the night-six or seven hours at a temperature of 9 6 O C. are usually sufficient but I prefer to keep the bath running the whole night and to dry at a lower temperature say as low as 85" C.by leaving the door open to a slight extent. I n this way it is possible to dry the milk thoroughly without any discolouration. It is in thus drying at low temperatures and in the saving of manipulation that the advaiitage of the process con-sists. The fine fibres insert themselves between the particles of the milk and facilitate the < - l O m r m - - 76 THE ANALYST. escape of the water. It is not necessary to stir or touch the assay after the introduction of the milk as is requirad in cases where sand gypsum or barytes is used for the same purpose as the chrysotile. I n doing this the assay is placed in one scale the tara in grain weights above-mentioned in the other and then gramme weights are added t o the latter until equal poise is attained.This weight in grammes multiplied by ten gives the percentage of total solids containel in the sample. As a rule i t is about 0.3 per cent. less than when the assay is performed in a platinum capsule. The solids and fibre together form a rather tough mass in the tub3s and in this perforations are male with a sharp-pointsd instrument in order to facilitate the subse-quent extraction. The removal of the butter-fat from the contents of the tubes is effected in A large chloride of calcium jar 18 inches high whose upper part has an inside diameter of 15 inches without any contraction at the top. The tubes are placed one above another in this upper part which is 14 or 15 inches long and capable of containing 12 or 13 of the assays. The tubulusin the lower part of the jar is then tightly corked and the jar filled t o above the level oE the highest assay with petroleum ether having a specific gravity of about 0.670 with boiling point ranging from 60 deg.to 85 deg. C The jar is then closed tightly with a bung and the whole set aside for two hours during which time the assays are thoroughly permeated with the petroleum ether and most of the butter fat dissolved. The ether is then withdrawn by the tubulus a t the bottom of the jar and the tubes allowed t o drain. Fresh ether is then poured in upou the uppermost tube when i t percolates through all the other assays and collects in the receptacle at the bottom After the latter has been filled four successive times by the ether thus used to wash away the butter fat and all the ether has drained away from the tubes the latter are freed still further from ether by drawing a current of air through them by means of the ordinary apparatus used for quick filtering.The tubes are then exposed in a steam bath to a temperature of 95 deg. or 100 deg. which completely frees them from the ether. They are then cooled in the desiccator and weighed the loss being the butter fat. A much larger quantity of petroleum ether is used in this way than in working with the Soxhlet azld other extracting apparatus. I n our laboratory however a copper still heated by steam is used for recovering the ether and the distillation of the extra quantity used occasions very little additional trouble. After drying the tubes are cooled in the desiccator and weighed.Of course the Soxhlet apparatus may be used as described in my papor of 1887 and much of our work has been done in this way. We have also made use of a Stutzer tube similar to that described in Bockman's '' Untersuchungs Methoden " (edition 1884 page 579). Instead however of supporting the inside tube. by means of a spiral wire the Stntzer itself has three protuberances jutting inwards at its contracted part upon which the tubes containing the fibre and milk rest during the extraction. I n such a Stutzer a THE ANALYST. 77 many as five or six tubes may be operated on a t the same time. I n an interesting paper read before the Royal Society of Canada in May 1890 Mr. Frank T. Shutt chemist of the Central Experimental Farm has shown that the extraction of the butter fat is per-formed at least as effectually in these Stutzer tubes and in fact his figures show that the Stutzers give slightly better results than when the extraction is performed in Soxhlets.The analysis of milk in these tubes may be carried further than the determination of the butter fat although the amount of the latter and the total solids is all that is usiially required. The tube and its contents may be extracted with alcohol and from the loss in weight the percenta,ge of lactose ascertained. I n this case however it is necessary to deduct from the result the weight of a small quantity of coagulum which separates from the alcoholic solution and the ash yielded on evaporating the latter and igniting the product. 11.-BUTTER. The application of the chrysotile fibre to the examination of butter concerns only the estimation of the water fat salt and curd which it contains and has no reference to the detection of foreign fats.Where the tubes or cups are t o be used for butter the chrysotile fibre is placed in them in successive layers so that the top one may be removed without disturbing the others. After a tube is dried and weighed the top layer of fibre is removed the butter to be examined introduced and the top layer replaced carefully so as to prevent any of its constituents from being removed by a possible splashing of the solvents. On weighing the tubes again the amount of butter taken for one assay becomes known. When the tube is placed in the water-bath the butter melts is absorbed by the fibre and the water is dissipated in the course of an hour.On cooling and weighing the tube its amount is ascertained from the loss. By means of petroleum ether the fat is next dissolved out and its amount obtained in the same way. Water next removes the salt the curd is left insoluble and from the next weighing the amount of both ascertained. I n heating the sample for an hour or two in the fibre in order to the dissipation of the water there is not much reason to dread error from the oxydation of the butter fat. A sample exposed for seventeen hours in the water-bath a t a temperature of 90°C only experienced an increase in weight of 0.82 per cent calculated on the butter fat. I I1 .-CHEESE. The glass tube or tubulated cup which is used for the examination of cheese is of larger dimensions than that used for milk analysis.It has an outside diameter of 40mm., and a greatest length of 75mm. the depth of the wide part being 65mm. I n packing it with the fibre it has been found advantageous to place a small piece of platinum or wire gauze over the small opening in the bottom to prevent the fibre from being drawn down into it when the contents are being subjected to the action of the filter pump. The fibre itself is introduced in successive loose layers so that they may be removed and replaced singly when desired. After the tube with its contents has been dried and weighed al 78 THE ANALYST. the chrysotile excepting the layer at the bottom is removed and 5 gramrnes of the cheese in thin slices mixed or kneaded up with it replaced in the tube and then covered over with the uppermost layer of the fibre.On weighing the whole the weight of the and other soluble transformation, during the ripening of the cheese. cheese employed may also be again ascertained. The tube is then dried in the water-bath at a temperature of 98" and a very perfect elimination of the water effected. This is proved by the close agreement of duplicate analyses. On cooling and weighing the tubes the loss in weight indicates the quantity of moisture present. The tube is next subjected to extraction in a Soxhlet or Stutzer and the loss which it experiences regarded as butter-f at. The contents of the tube are next subjected to the action of warm water containing one per cent. of acetic acid. It is in fact washed therewith, while the tube is connected with the vacuum pump.The loss thus sustained is lactose salt and soluble matter the latter including of course the peptones products of the caseine which have been produced That part of the cheese remaining as residue among the chrysotile fibre in the tube is regarded as unaltered casein. IV.-FATS AND OILS. The amount of water contained in these may of course be ascertained in exactly the same manner as described under butter and this plan has been very successfully carried out in our laboratories in the examination of lards some of which have been found to be adulterated with 5 to 25 per cent. of mechanically combined water. It the course of these analyses it was found that some lards although heated for only a short time, increased in weight.Following up this observa,tion it was found that such lards were generally free from water but adulterated with cotton seed oil. In fact while pure lards exposed to a temperature of 95" C. for eighteen hours in chrysotile fibre seldom show a greater increase than 2.5 per cent. compound or adulterated lards always show over 3 per cent. and not unfrequently as high i ~ s 4.5. It is not supposed that this test would taken by itself be sufficient to condemn a lard or otherwise but in conjunction with other data it has been found valuable. I n cases where by a judicious admixture of beef tallow lard, and cotton seed oil the lard shows a satisfactory iodine number it has been found possible to detect such adulteration by the use of the nitrate of silver test in conjunction with the one now referred to THE ANALYST.79 It is quite possible that this method of determining the capacity which oils and fat have of absorbing oxygen may be found worthy of a wider application. I may mention the following percentages of increase in weight which the following substances expe-rienced on being heated for 18 hours in chrysotile fibre :-Cotton seed oil . . . . 5.45-5.64 per cent. Oleo stearine . . no increase Beef tallow home rendered and filtered no increase Oleo oil from Chicago . . . . 0.37-0.44 ,, Mutton tallow . . . . 0*21-0*31 ,, Porpoiseoil . a . * . 4.85-4.98 ,, Neats foot oil a . . 3*06-3*29 ,, Olive oil (Barton and Guestier) . 4.29-4.49 ,, Linseed oil . . . . 4.72-5.04 ,, Of course these absorptions vary as the time of exposure is increased or otherwise.I n the case of linseed oil the increase is much greater in the cold when plenty of time is allowed. Some very interesting results are obtained when oils are in this way allowed to attain the maximum degree of oxidation and are then subjected to the action of various solvents but these results are not yet complete in my hands and should at any rate be treated of ir a separate paper. V.-sOAP. It must have occurred to some of the members now present that the same method of drying which I have described as applicable to cheese would also answer for soap and such is the case. I n several respects the use of chrysotile fibre is preferable to that of sand as described by Mr. Wilson in the Chemicacl News of 21st October last p.200. The soap may either be introduced into the fibre in the same manner as the cheese or after solution in alcohol. After drying a t 98" C . closely agreeing results are obtained with duplicate samples. The dried soap entangled among the fibre in the tubulated cup is then subjected to successive extractions in Soxhlets or Stutzers by the following solvents petroleum ether, alcohol and water the loss sustained by each treatment being noted. The first loss represents unsaponified fat ; the second soaps free aikaii and glycerine j the third alkaline carbonates salt &c. while the insoluble substances wliether of organic or mineral origin are ascertained from what remains in excess of the original weight of the tube and fibre.Of course the ethereal alcoholic and aqueous solutions obtained in this way are ali available for other necessary separations and determinations. VI.-SPIRITS AND MALT LIQUORS. It is chiefly in the determination of the amount of extract contained in these that the The result has been a more perfect elimination of the chrysotile has found application 80 THE ANALYST. water and a decrease in the percentage of the extract. The following statement shows the differences between this and the ordinary method of determining the extract in such beverages :-Crammes Residue per litre when dried at looo C. In Platinum In Chrysotile Capsule. Fibre. Champagne Cognac 1865 . . 16.654 14.746 Hennessy's Cognac V.O. . . 9.180 8-520 Gooderham & Wort's Rye Whisky . 1.959 1.842 Canadian Porter Walkerville B.Co. 55.200 53.400 Allsopp's Red Hand Ale . . 56-900 55.475 Brading's Ale Ottawa . . 37.050 36.650 Percentage of additional loss when dried in chrysotile fibre. 11-46 7.1 9 5.97 3.26 2-51 1.08 With reference to the amount of extract contained in worts and de-alcoholised beer, it is admitted by most authorities that the percentages given in the Schultz tables as corresponding to certain specific gravities are too high. Schultz obtained his figures by determining the specific gravity of various worts a t 15O C. and then evaporating to apparent dryness at from 75Q to 80° C. In this way it is not possible to obtainan extract free from water and recognising this Dr. A. Elionconstructed in April 1890 a newset of tables (Zeitschift Jiir anyewandte Chemie 1890 p.291) based upon experiments in which the extract was determined by drying in a rarefied atmosphere at 97" C. These values are much lower than those of Schultz but it is not certain that even they show the amount of dry substance perfectly free from water. Our method of drying in chrysotile at 92O c, gives even lower results and in the following table are given some of those obtained in a series of determinations of de-alcoholised beers as also for the sake of comparison the specific gravities and the amount of extract corresponding thereto according to Schultz, to Elion and to the saccharometer tables of Bates :-No. of Sample. 4. 9. 10: 16. 18. 20. Description of Sample. Sp. gr. of Grammes solid in 100 C.C.Grammes solid in spent; beer according to lO0c.c. dried 15°C. inchrysotile SchuItz. Elion. Bates. fibre, Sparkling Amber Ale . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.02191 5.79 5-40 5-55 5-413 Hamilton's London Amber Ale . . . . . . . . . 1.01194 3'11 2.96 3'06 2.801 Dnrhnrker's Lager Sale= . . . . . . . . . 1.02044 5'41 5.09 5.06 4.070 DOW'S India Ale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1'02148 5'69 5.36 5.31 4.925 Toronto Brewing Co. India Pale Ale . . . . . . 1.01190 3.11 2-96 3'06 2*625 Carling's India Pale Ale . . . . . . . . . . . 1.01709 4'60 4'26 4.31 3'910 From these figures it will be observed that as stated above the results obtained by drying in chrysotile fibre are invariably lower than even Elion's figures although in Some cases the difference is very slight.Elion's experiments were made with genuine malt extracts and beers and it is still uncertain as to whether these differences are owing to the method of drying or to something abnormal in the beers above mentioned THE ANALYST. 81 I n order to ascertain the nature of the constituents of these beer extracts the tubes contzining them and the fibre are subjected to extraction by alcohol of 96 per cent. (by volume). Sag,zr which has escaped fermentation and other substances are thus removed and the tubes after drying kc. are weighed. The substances remaining in the chrysotile fibre are allouminoids and dextrin. A nitrogen determination on the original beer by the Kjeldahl method enables the qiiantity of the former to be calculated and on its snbtmc-tion from the amount of residue the quantity of gum and dextrin becomes known.This is an important figure which renders it possible in conjunction with the degree of fermen-tation (Verggrungs grad. i.e. the percentage loss of original constituents in the wort during fermentation) to determine whether saccharine substances have been used in the brewing. VII.-SYRUPS AND MOLASSES. The difficulty of drying these products is well known but it is overcome by the use of chrysotile fibre. The quantity used for analysis must not however be introduced direct among the fibre. It must be diluted with four o r five times its weight of water, and then an aliquot part of the solution may be pipetted into the tube among the fibre. After drying these for 48 hours there is no difficulty in obtaining concordant results.The tubes thus dried may be extracted with alcohol and the solution used for the sacchwometer. I believe more correct results are thus obtained than by direct politrisation ; but to discuss this matter would go beyond the limits of this paper. V I 11. --COFFEE. Not only has it been found possible to treat with advantage liquids oils and viscous substances in chrysotile fibre but it has also been used for enveloping and enclosing powdered substances in place of the usual capsules of filtering paper while they are being acted on or extracted by various solvents. One of the most important of these is coffee, regarding which I shall venture to go more into detail. The tube in which it is treated is the same as that above-described under the heading (‘ Cheese.” The manner of filling it with the fibre is the same and care must of course be taken in this as in other cases, that it is well teased out and not packed too closely in the tube.Owing to the large number of samples which are usualiy deiivered to the laboratory a t one time the tubes are arranged in copper racks holding 20 all properlynumbered and are dried for 24 hours in the water oven at 100 degs. C. The tubes are weighed from the desiccator and immediately returned to it. After their weight is known they are each charged with from 5 to 7 grammes of the coffee to be analysed which has been previously ground to a standard fineness. The filling is performed by rapidly removing the chrysotile layers with metal pliers over black glazed paper and replacing them with a layer of say 3 or 4 mm.of coffee between each. A very thick plug or layer of fibre is placed on the top and the loaded tube is immediately weighed to ascertain the exact amount of the sample taken 82 THE ANALYST. After 24 hours in the water oren a t 100 degs. C. the weight is again taken and the loss is stated as moisture. Ciiriously enough this loss is somewhat greater than when the coffee is dried on thin I n 18 samples dried by both methods simultaneously the follow- layers on watch glasse3. ing numbers were obtained :-LOSS at 100 degs. C. in 18 holws. Sample. On Watch Glasses. In Chrysotile Fibre. 1. .** 2. . 3. . 5. . 6. . 7. . 8. . . 9. . 10. . 11 . 12. . 13. . 14. . 15. . 16. . 17. . 18. . 4. m o a Mean 6.73 6.1 3 4.20 5-65 5.28 9.81-10.39 3-83 5.27 5.7 1 5.1 2 4-74 6.12 5.39 4.08 6.80 4-78 4-86 5.82 - -.. . . 8 0 . . 0-a . . . . , C . . . . 7.07 6.44 4.51 6.1 1 5.58 9-80 10.69 4.70 5.65 6.01 5-32 5-01 6-42 5.64 4 51 7 14 5-08 5-04 6.15 7 -The above are samples of commercial coffee some of them very much adulterated. The loss of weight is practically constant a t 18 t o 20 hours. I n 20 tubes containing an average of 6.133 grammes esch the 103s OF weight in 20 hours averaged 262 mille-gmmmes and for the next 24 hours a further loss of only 3.9 mi!lggrammes occurred. Tho tubes are now exhausted by petroleum ether which may be done either in Soxhlet or Stutzer tubes two or three of the assays being treated at once.A very large number of samples have been worked over in this way in duplicate with very satisfactory results. Genuine coffees yield from 10 to 12 per cent. of fat by this treatment. One genuine sample gave only 8.20 per cent. but in this respect, stands alone among nearly 50 puce coffees. No sample gave as much as 13 per cent., although 12.5ihas been reached in a few instances. Several of the district analysts have obtained higher figures but this is owing to the use of ethylic ether in the extraction THE ANALYST. 83 instead of petroleum ether. The quality of the latter used in the Inland Revenue Laboratory is obtained by distillation from " deodorised gasoline '' at temperatures ranging from 60" t o 85" C.The percentage of fat contained in adulterated coffee varies from 12 to 2 per cent. and as a general rule it may be assumed that the lower the percentage of fat the greater is the amount of adulterants in the coffee. It would, however be unsafe to depend entirely on this as there is nothing to prevent the manu-facturer from introducing foreign fat into the mixture if he finds it to his interest to do so. Chicory gives about 1 per cent. of extractive matter to petroleum ether and it may be added here that three samples of roasted barley yielded respectively 1.31 1.54 and 1.42 per cent. to the same solvent. All the percentages of fat extracted are calculated on the dry substance. The tubes are next treated with boiling water in order to determine the amount of water extract.They are placed in the rack and boiling water poured into them and after standing about 15 minutes they are placed on the jars connected with the filter pump, in the same manner as for the washing by ether and repeatedly washed with boiling water until the washings have but little colour. This requires an average of 10 minutes for each tube and about 250 C.C. of water. On being dried as thoroughly as possible by the pump they are returned to the oven and kept a t a temperature of 100" C. for 48 hours. The loss of weight is the water extract and amomits to about 22 per cent. in the case of genuine coffee. Chicory gives nearly SO per cent. (77.73 per cent. according to our experiments), and it has been proposed to make use of the percentage of water extract obtained in this way a8 a substitute for the indications of the ten per cent.decoction in the cases of mixtures of coffee with chicory only. I n the case of samples containing other adulterants as well the amount of water extract' varies from 25 to 6s per cent. the high figures being occasioned by the sugar caramel gum soluble starch and dextrin contained in the substances which are mixed with the coffee in order to produce a cheap article. The foregoing descriptions do not by any means exhaust the list of substances whose examination or analysis has been facilitated by the use of chrysotile fibre and the various glass tubes mentioned. Mustard may be treated in exactly the Pame manner as coffee, and its moisture and fixed oil contents conveniently determined.Pepper may also be distributed among the fibre and the moisture and alcoholic extract determined. I have also introduced common gunpowder among the fibre in these tubes and by succemive extractions with carbon disulphide and water determined its percentages of sulphur nitre, and carbon. The examination of varnishes is much facilitated by driving off the volatile constituents in these tubes and then subjecting the residue to the action of various solvents. Mr. Shutt informs me that he has conveniently and successfully performed the analysis of condensed milk by using this system and I have not the slightest doubt that the water contained in honey could be easily eliminated and estimated by the use of chrysotile fibre, It has also seemed to me that it in conjunction with the tubes for containing it constitute 84 THE ANALYST.the best possible means for carrying out to a considerable extent the plans described by Dragendorff and others in the analyses of plants I sincerely trust that my fellow mem-bers of the Smiety of Public Analysts will give these methods and suggestions some consideration for I feel convinced that their adoption in whole or in psrt will makrially lighten their labours and economise their time. Although I have to bear the chief responsibility of introducing the use of chrysotile fibre into the methods of the Inland Revenue Laboratory at Ottawa I must not neglect to state that much of the work referred to in this paper has been performed by my assistants Mr. A. &Gill M.A. Mr. F. W. Babington F.I.C. and A h .A. L. Tourchot ; and I take this opportunity of gratefully acknowledging the interest zeal and ability with which they have worked out some of these problems in proximate organic analysis. DISCUSSION. The President said that Mi-. Macfarlane had dealt with a great variety of subjects in his paper. It was only quite recently that Mr. Richmond had again brought before the Society the system of evaporating milk by means of asbestos wool which he had been experimenting with. No doubt it was unfortunate that public analysts something like fifteen years ago a t the instance of ISIIr. Wanklyn had ceased to use the method which was until then universal of evaporating milk with diluting substances like sand or pumice. He was surprised a t one or two remarks made by Mr.Macfarlane. He (the President) would have expected that with the use of the crysotile fibre he would have obtained higher total solids than without it for the reason that if such a substance as milk or anything of a sugary nature were dried en bloc in a platinum basin it was excessively difficult to dry in fact it was almost impossible. Milk when evaporated always got more or less discoloured whikt Mi-. Richmond did not find any such discolouration by the use of asbestos fibre for evaporating milk and he (R‘lr. Richmond) obtained high results. I n the case of wine and malt wort the figures for tvtal solids obtained by evaporation as proved by Dr. Dupr6 a good many years ago in the case of wine were always smaller than those obtained by the specific gravity of the de-alcoholised liquid.Dr. Duprd had pointed out that a certain amount of dehydration took place which altered the character of the residue. The observation as to the oxygen absorbed by oils would be a very great help especially in testing for cotton seed oil. Cotton seed oil was now so treated with a view to deceiving analysts that the old silver test sometimes appeared to fail. He had had a number of samples of lard which he was almost convinced contained cotton-seed oil o r some very similar oil. I f a corroborative test could be found, it would be exceedingly useful. At the same time the oxygen absorption test for oils had been used for a great many years in examining many forms of oils. Mr. H. Droop Richmond said he would like to state in reference t o the President’s I n his paper (ANALYST remark that he had not claimed the asbestos method as his own THE ANALYST.85 xvii. 225) he had mentioned that some years ago the asbestos method had been intro-duced in America by llr. Macfarlane or &h. Babcock. Would Mr. &lacfarlane tell the meeting whose method was first published. Mr. Macfarlane replied that there could be no doubt that Rlr. Babcock first intro-duced the use of askektos but he thought that Mr. Babcock did not introduce the use of crysotile fibre or the method of obtaining the results by difference. H e did not bring forward this method as anything particularly new except in the manner of applying it so that the butter fat could be determined by difference and cz much larger number of samples analysed than the analyst otherwise could deal witli in the same time.Mr Richniond wished to ask Mr. Macfarlane how the results for fat agreed with the ordinary methods; that is to say with the extraction of the fat by the Adams or Werner-Schrnid processes. He (Mr. Richmond) wished to say that he shared the President's surprise a t the results of Mr Macfarlane's determinations in the case of milk, being below those given by the ordinary method. The results by the asbestos process he had found if anything a little higher ; and on drying for a very considerable number of hours-up to in some cases close on 60 -he had found that the weight remained practically constant ; sometimes it had gone half H milligram up or down. He could not get it to lose any more. He (Mr. Richmond) put the asbestos in a platinum basin and ignited it and all .the water in the asbestos whether it was condensed moisture o r whether it was combined water was driven off.Blr. Macfarlane had stated that he sometimes had his milk samples sent him in ice. He (Mr. Richmond) was strongly of opinion that it was a bad thing to put milks in ice. It caused separation of fat in such a way as to render proper admixture afterwards difficult. He preferred to have his samples kept a t a warmer temperature even at the risk of their curdling sooner. Mr. Macfarlane did not think that this method had been compared witli any other than that of ordinary evaporation in platinum vessels and certainly the loss was greater in crysotile fibre than it was in platinum. The President asked whether the total solids were determined by drying to constant weight or by the usual process of drying for three hours? Mr.Macfarlane said that it was possible to dry the milk in four or five hours a t a temperature of 9 8 O C. but he preferred to leave the samples in the water-bath over night at about 92" C. I n determining the solids in platinum and comparing the results with those obtained in crysotile fibre the same time and temperature was employed There could not be any doubt that more water was eliminated by using crysotile fibre. As to any loss the crysotile fibre might sustain when dry it had been exposed to temperatures under and up to 100°C. without its losing weight. This variety of crysotile loses 12 per cent. combined water on ignition. I n this case it loses its character altogether and falls to powder.With regard to Mr. Richmond's question no other plan could be devise 86 THE ANALYST. than packing it in ice ; unless indeed the method of llr. A l h of Gothenburg by bichro-mate of potash should be found to answer when the milk had to be sent long distances. When the milk arrived cold enough he had never had any difficulty in consequence of the separation of the cream. Mr. Richmond wished to ask BIr. Macfarlane how the results under khis method compared with the Adams and other processes ? Mr. Macfarlane did not think that he had made such comparisons. H e did not use the Adams method. There was so much manipulation connected with it that the large number of milk analyses required could not possibly be got through in the proper time.He had to adopt some other method whereby the manipulation was not so great. The actual variation had been determined by Dr. Ellis of Toronto between this and the Adams method with the practical result of his adopting it instead of the Adums ; not that it was considered more correct but because a large amount of time and trouble was saved. A good deal of work had also been done by Mr. Schutt of the Experimental Farm Laboratory a t Ottawa in these comparisons and he (Mr. Schutt) had always found a less quantity of total solids by using the fibre than otherwise. Dr. Muter said that as time rolled on they returned to the old forgotten methods Mr. Macfarlane’s process was practically similar to the one that he (Dr. Muter) practised twenty-seven years ago when he first made a speciality of the analysis pf food and drugs.It was a very good method because it gave the actually dry residue ; and was only abandoned in deference to the general agreement to adopt the Wanklyn method as to which he agreed with the President’s remarks I n the old way a small funnel with a glass cover was plugged nearly filled with sand dried in a specially constructed bath, and weighed. The milk was run on to the sand and the whole again dried and weighed. The funnel and its contents were then percolated with ether and the fat thus removed weighed. The residue was then percolated with warm dilute spirit to remove sugar (estimated by Fehling) ; and finally the sand was dried and submitted to combustion with soda lime for the proteids.Then nothing was known as to the constancy of the solids-not-fat and consequently full analyses were always made He merely mentioned this as a matter of curiosity but even now it was not a bad way of attacking condensed milks, which contained ar abundance of cane sugar. As a. r d e with the sand or otjher similar method the total solids came 0.1 to 0.2 below those taken by simply drying in a dish. For ordinary commercial work he considered that no process was so good as the solids, gravity and Richmond’s slide rule. Mr. Macfarlane in compliance with a request made by the President then gave some particulais as to the labours of Public Analysts in Canada. The laboratory branch of the Inland Revenue Department was charged with the administration not only of the Adulteration Act but of the Fertiliser’s Act and he would try to state how this was carried out.There were eight district analysts in the Dominion one in each of the citie THE ANALYST. 87 of Halifax St. John Quebec Montreal Ottawa Toronto London and Winnipeg. Those gentlemen were professional men of course and prepared to do all the analytical work the public had to offer them. They were also appointed public analysts by the Govern-ment and in order that they might take their part in carrying ont the Adulteration Act, they were supplied from time to time in the course of the year with a certain number of samples to analyse. These samples were collected by food inspectors of whom there were as many as there were analysts that is one for each district. The instructions received by the food inspectors were issued by the laboratory branch after the Com-missioner of Inland Revenue having been consulted as to what articles should be analysed.Orders were issued to the food inspectors to collect so many samples of foods, drugs or agricultural fed-ilisers some perhaps of a particular kind and to deliver them to the public analysts. The food inspectors went into the shops and places of business and asked as if they were ordinary purchasers for the articles in question. According to the law and according to the practice in Canada the vendor was then and there after the purchase had been made informed of the purpose for which the sample was obtained. The sample was then divided into three parts each sealed up one left with the vendor, one sent to the district analyst and the remaining one to the departmental laboratory at Ottawa.The next step was the analysis by the district analyst of the sample and his report to the Commissioner of lnland Revenue. The analyst was paid certain fees on the delivery of his certificate showing whether it was or was not adulterated. The certificates were then inspected by himself (Mr. Macfarlane) and the results placed on record in the books kept by the branch at Ottawa which were properly systematised. He was able with the aid of the laboratory staff to go through all the samples which had been analysed by the district anaJgsts and check their results but as a rule only those found by them to be adulterated were considered t o be worth revision in this way.I n such cases the sample sent to Ottawa was analysed in the laboratory there and if the results obtained by the local analyst were confirmed the next proceeding was to " apply the Act," carrying out its provisions in proper order Of course they could at once report certain cases to the Department of Justice for prosecution but the Act gave them the power of previously intimating to the vendor that his sample had been found to be adulterated and they had also the power under the Act of calling upon him to pay the cost of collecting and analysing the sample which cost varied from eight to sixteen dollars. The vendor could clcct to pay the fine or to refuse and stand a prosecution. This plan was adopted and an amendment of the Act was inserted to that effect because it was found that in a great many cases if the vendor were prosecuted and a conviction was obtained the resulting fines were far from adequate to pay the expenses of the prosecutions.The consequence was that the grant of money for carrying out the Act which was given by the legislature had to stand large outlays for legal expenses On this representation being made to the Minister of Inland Revenue he suggested the method now in force for overcoming the difficulty. In three 88 THE ANALYST. fourths of the cases the fines were paid without any prosecntion being necessary the vendor preferring to pay rather than to be subjected to a prosecution. The names of those who did riot pay were given in t o the Depnrtment of Justice and n prosecution took place in the ordinary way.I n law there as here there was much uncertaint,y bnt in the majority of cases convictions were obtained. He could only remeniber that they had failed in the case of baking powder the lawyers raising the question as to wliethe~ that was or was not a food. I n addition to such legal proceedings biilletins were published in which the names and addresses of persons from whom samples had been taken were given and also the results of the examinations both of the genuine and adulterated articles. The publication of these bulletins was quite anxiously looked for by the piiblic, and the Press readily took notice of them. The local newspaper too was sure to publish the names of those individuals in their neighbourhood who had been found to sell adulterated good’s ; so that on the whole during $he last six years it could fairly be said that the branch had done a great deal of good and hacl done much in the direction of improving the quality of the articles sold t.hrougliout the whole Dominion.They also had the support of the public and to a very large extent of the dealers also as well as the manufacturers It was merely a question of getting the Act qpplied to a sufficient extent. The difficulty was that notwithstanding a good many adulterators escaped. If the Act were administered in its entirety and all of its stringent provisions applied the officers of the branch might possibly make nuisances of themselves. Their powers were so great that they might end by bothering everybody. Care had to be taken that unreasonable prosecutions were not instituted and as long as this was clone they would have the support of the public and the traders.The bulletins before the meeting showed the way in which the names were published and it would be seen how each article was treated. The President asked Mr. Macfarlane what he considered reasonable limits with What course did he adopt with those samples which gave results only regard to milk. very slightly below t’he average 1 Mr. Macfarlane replied that such cases were left severely alone. They certainly would prosecute in every case where the fat was less than 3 per cent.-even slightly less ; anything below 3 per cent. would be condemned. The bulletins showed the judgments that had been given. He did not think he could at the moment pick out the doubtful samples which had been referred to by the President.He had sometimes cnses of com paratively rich milk which he was tolerably certain had been watered ; bnt as there were plenty of worse cases to be attended to those were put down as below average.” It had been found by the analysis of a great number of samples of genuine milk that the average percentage of fat in Canadian milk amounted to 3-75. Perhaps not more than 1 in 100 would be found to contain less than 3.45 per cent. of fat. They woulcl be called ‘I under average,” although they were genuine. They (the analysts) were perfectly justified i THE ANALYST. calling them “ below average.” What he had proposed was that the lowest limit should be 12 per cent. of total solids of which 3.5 should be milk fat and 8.5 other solids.No standard had been established by the Government in connection with this recommendation. The Act gave the Government the power to fix the limits of variability in the case of any article but they were unwilling to do so unless there was a very great necessity for it. He did not think that his branch was impeded in its operations because there was no legal standard. Any milk containing less than 8.5 per cent. of non-fatty solids or any milk containing less than 3 per cent. of fat was condemned and a prosecution was instituted, with a very good chance of obtaining a conviction. Mr. Cassal asked Mr. Macfarlane whether he would calculate the percentage of fat abstracted on a limit of 3.5 per cent of fat or of 3.0 per cent. of fat. Mr.Macfarlane stated that the adulteration branch would not prosecute for any-thing between 3.0 and 3.5 but that it would do so if the sample contained less than 3 per cent. Mr. Cassal explained that he wished to know whether Mr. Rlacfarlane would report that a particular sample of milk ” deficient in fat had had a certain percentage of its origi-nal fat abstracted and if so whether he would calculate that percentage on the limit of 3.5 per cent. of original fat or of 3 per cent. He gathered that Mr. Macfarlane reported analytical data namely percentages of solids fat and so forth in his certificates or in the bulletins a course which he (Mr. Cassal) was glad to say had now been given up by most of the leading English public analysts ; but he supposed that when cases of adultera-tion went into Court the meaning of the analytical data was given in the form of percentages of added water or of fat abstracted.Mr. Macfarlane stated that it was not necessary to state the solids fat kc. he only went as far as was necessary to obtain a conviction. The President wished to know supposing Mr. Macfarlane as head of the depart-ment had analysed a sample which the district analyst had reported as adulterated; and supposing that the two results happened to differ whose opinion would prevail ? There were two ways of differing-either through the existence of an error on one side or the other or through a difference in the opinion founded on the analytical results. One chemist might arrive a t the same analytical results as another but he might draw different conclusions and give a different opinion.A case had occurred quite recently in London where a sample of milk had been analysed by three persons. The first said the milk was skimmed ; the second said that it was both skimmed and watered; and the third said that the sample might have been genuine ; while the results obtained by each did not differ very widely. If such a case occurred in Canada how would it be dealt with and what would be the consequences? Mr. Macfarlane could only conceive of such cases occurring in the followin 90 THE ANALYST. manner. As he had Btated the vendor retained part of the sample sealed up and he was at liberty to employ any chemist to examine that sample but during the whole of the six years that he (Mr. Macfarlane) had been in charge of the branch he had not known a case where this sample had been referred to a private analyst.The vendors could refer them to the chief analyst but they did not as a rule go to that trouble. I n a few cases the vendors had sent their samples to Ottawa and in one case his department found that an interchange of samples had taken place When the vendors referred their samples to headquarters they usually accepted the result without question. I n the event of there being any diference of opinion between the chemists a t Ottawa and the district analyst it was usually found that by consulting together differences could be explained, No pressure was used by the department. The district aiialysts were perfectly inde-pendent ; but it was quite within the province of the chief analyst in any particular case to suggest that; the opinion of a district analjst was not quite correct and to specify his reasons for the suggestion and there were instances in which the certificates had been modified accordingly.It was not thought necessary that such differences of opinion should be made public ; the whole matter was arranged privately. Everything was done to prevent injustice to the traders of the Dominion ; but a t the same time when prosecu-tions became necessary the analysts were perfectly united. It never happened that they gave opposing opinions in court; they would not allow such to become public. If differences existed which could not be reconciled the matter was dropped and no prose-cution was attempted. On the Determination of Ferric Oxide and Alumina in Mineral Phosphates G.Mariani and E. Tasselli. (Staz. Xper. Ag. Ital. xxiii. 31.)-The authors show that Glier’s alcohol method has the following defects :-(i.) The precipitation of a small quantity of calcium phosphate with the (ii.) The possible precipitation of basic phosphates if all the iron and (iii.) The partial solubility of ferric and aluminium phosphates in dilute (iv.) The decomposition of ferric ortho-phosphate by boiling water into They propose the following method :-I to 5 grams of the phosphate are boiled in a flask with 15 C.C. strong hydrochloric acid for 10 minutes and are then diluted with twice the volume of water; a few crystals of potassium chlorate and several drops of nitric acid and the liquid boiled to drive off the excess of chlorine This is filtered the filtrate and washings measuring about 150 C.C.; to the cold liquid a solution containing half a gram of ammonium phosphate is added 2 C.C. of glacial acetic acid and then ferric and aluminium phosphates. alumina are not in the mineral combined with phosphoric acid. acetic acid. soluble acid phosphate and insoluble basic salt THE ANALYST. 91 dilute ammonia drop by drop until a small permanent precipitate remains; 2 C.C. of acetic acid are then added and the liquid after repeated shaking is left for a couple of hours. The Precipitate is collected on a filter and washed with 1 per cent. ammonium phosphate solution. The funnel is placed over the flask in which precipitation took place and the precipitate is dissolved by a minimum of hydrochloric acid (sp.gr. 1*12) and a second precipitation is performed as before. The precipitate is well washed with the ammonium phosphate solution mentioned above the filter dried and burnt a t a dull-red heat. Half the weight of the residue is taken as ferric oxide and alumina. A Thomas slag two mineral phosphates and an artificial mixture containing 1-60 per cent. of ferric oxide and alumina were analysed. Greatest difference Gllser’s Greatest difference New Method. of duplicates. Method. of duplicate+. Thomas slag . . 19-12 0.31 19.48 0.30 Mineral phosphate . . . 4.01 0.45 3-72 0-25 Artificial mixture . . . 1.574 0.040 1-514 0.1 00 The authors do not consider their method perfect but they put i t forward as having 9 ? 9 .1-88 0.1 5 1.76 0.21 many advantages. H. D. R. _ _ _ - - ~ - _ Some Points in the Determination of the Intensity of the Colour of Wines, and in the Determination of Free Tartaric Acid. L. Sostegni. (Stax. Xper. Ag. Ital. xxiii. 10.)-The author shows that when comparing the colour of wines with that of a standard solution of fuchsine (0.05 grs. per litre) the results vary very largely according to the length of the column used in the comparison. Duboscq’s colorimeter was used. He also shows that different specimens of fuchsine have very different intensities of colour. From his experiments on malic acid he concludes that acid potassium malate is precipitated along with acid potassium tartrate in aiwiiolic aild alcoholic-ethereal solutions unless 5 C.C.of water be present for each 0.1 gram of malic acid. If the precipitation takes place in the presence of acetic acid no malate is found witli the tartrate. Sugar and other organic matter in wine hinders the precipitation of acid malate. H. D. R. ~ On the (so-called) Pennetier’s Method for Butter Analysis (Microscopic Examination by Polarized Light). A. Pizzi. (Xtax. Xper. Ag. Ital. xxiii. 38.)-The author points out that previous experimenters including himself had used simpl 92 THE ANALYST. mixtures of butter and margarine ( c j . ANALYST XVII. 193.) ; he now studies various conditions which occur in practice in order to see if they modify the resnlts obtained. He finds that keeping butter for some time at a temperature (28"-39O C.) but slightly below its point of fusion does not modify the results.The semi-fnsed portions around the section made by a warm knife gave somewhat doubtful indications. Butter exposed t o the rays of the sun and melted by this means behaved similarly Various substances were added to butter ; of these-to butter fused by heat. Boric Acid . . Suspicious indications. Borax . 9 , Cane Sugar . . . 7, Tartaric Acid . . 7 7 . Salicylic Acid . , Sodium Salicylate . . Glucose . . . Crystals of colour different to 7 7 Bicarbonate !!! 9 9 { field (with selenite plate.) Milk Sugar . . . Grains and fragments red some Shavings Of horny > > 1 showing two or three co~ours~ Starch . . . Play of colours. . The characters of genuine butter Saffron * 1 .* Annatto Turmeric . ..* . . . not altered. A quantity of milk skimmed by Laval's separator was mixed with a quantity of margarine by Jespersen's Emulsor ; this was mixed with cream and separated and was then churned into butter which contained about 30 per cent. margarine; this mixture behaved as genuine butter. Freshly made unwashed butter butter kept under water for five months and butter prepared from clotted cream all gave results as for genuine butter. Rancid butter covered with fungoid growths behaved as margarine ; rancid butter free from fungus appeared as margarine when the outer portion was examined and genuine when care was taken to use the inner part. The author concludes that the method is sufficiently exact to prove the presence of margarine mixed with butter but it is far from being of universal application on account of the many exceptions.H. D. R. The Direct Determination of Nitrogen in Nitrates. A. Devada. (Chem. Zeit. 1892 xvi. 1952.)-The method of reducing nitrates to ammonia by treatment with powdered metals such as zinc and iron in alkaline solution is of considerabl THE ANALYST. 93 antiquity and gives good results if conducted sufficiently slowly. The same is true of Stutzer’s method in which aluminium foil is used the rate of attack being slow in the dilute caustic lye that is employed. This inconvenience has been overcome by the author by the use of an alloy of aluminium copper and zinc which is easily powdered and has a powerful reducing action. The alloy which can be obtained from T. Srpek of Vienna, contains 45 per cent.of aluminium 50 per cent. of copper and 5 per cent. of zinc which in dissolving leaves the copper in a finely divided state so that it ensures regular distillation without bumping. The process is carried out as follows The solution containing the nitrate in quantity equivalent to about 0.5 grams of potassium nitrate is placed in a flask having a capacity of about a litre diluted with 60 C.C. of water and 5 C.C. of alcohol aud 40 C.C. of caustic potash solution of sp. gr. 1.3 added. 2-2.5 grams of the alloy described above are introduced and the flask attached to a condenser with a receiver containing standard acid The connection between the flask and the condenser is made by means of a tube having on the limb next the flask a bulb filled with glass beads to prevent the contents of the flask splashing over into the receiver and on the other limb another bulb to prevent the acid in the receiver finding its way into the distillation flask should regurgi-tation occur.When the flask has been thus connected with the condenser it is gently heated for half-an-hour at the end of which time the evolution of hydrogen will have slackened or ceased and then the distillation is begun a t first cautiously until the zinc of the alloy has completely dissolved and then more vigorously the time necessary being atout twenty minutes from the time when the contents of the flask begin to boil The distillate is caught in standard acid and the ammonia determined by backward titration in the ordinary way It is to be noted that the strength of the alkali used is of importance, as if it be too strong the action 011 the alloy is unduly vigorous at the beginning of the operation and if too weak the contents of the flask have to be heated overmuch the result in both cases being the formation of a fine spray of caustic solution which is very difficult to stop even with complicated attachments to the distilling flask.The test analyses on pure nitrates are satisfactory. B. B. Qualitative Examination of Iodine for Cyanogen. C. Meineke. (Zeits. anorgan. Chem. 1892 11. 165 through Chem. Zed.)-According to the German Pharma-copceia cyanogen can be detected in iodine by rubbing 5 grams of the sample up with water filtering and reducing the solution with sulphurous acid adding a very small quantity of ferrous sulphate and a little caustic potash warming the solution and after cooling acidifying it.The formation of Prussian blue indicates the presence of cyanogen. Sodium thiosulphate may be substituted for the sulphurous acid if the iodine solution be first acidified. One part of iodine cyanide in 12,000 parts of water or one part of cyanogen in 54,000 parts of water can be recognised by this test The behatviour o 94 THE ANALYST. iodine cyanide in neutral solution supplies two other methods for detecting it. A few milligrams of KI are added to a neutral solution of iodine containing cyanogen which is then decolorised with sDdium thiosulphate solution of about centinormal strength until the yellow colour has almost disappeared. Clear starch solution is added which if iodine cyanide be present produces a much deeper blue colouration than if the iodine be pure-The object of the potassium iodide is to obtain the full blue colour with starch The reappearance of the blue colour of the iodide of starch but with a redder tinge than is normal is also an indication of the presence of cyanogen.The other method depends on the formation of sulphate when iodine cyanide is reduced with sodium t hiosulphate which can be detected by the addition of barium chloride in the usual manner. The freedom of the thiosnlphnte from sulphate must be ascertained by a blank experiment with pure iodine. The reaction is about twice as sensitive as that obtained by the official method. B. B. [The official method which is absolutely characteristic of cyanogen and depends on no indirect reaction is nevertheless to be preferred.-E.€3.1 The Determination of Ash in Mineral Lubricating Oils A. Stepanow. (Zap. imp. russk. tech. obszcz. 1892 xxvi. 927 through Chem. Zeit.)-The direct incinera-tion of mineral lubricating oils is inconvenient as they evolve much soot and leave a coke difficult t o burn off. The plan adopted by the author consists in the use of a head fitted as closely as may be to the dish in which the oil is to be burnt connected with an aspirator and a condenser so that the vapours are drawn off and condensed as quickly as they are formed. 70 to 90 grams at a time can be treated in this way and when one portion has been taken down to the coking point another can be added until 200 to 300 grams have been volatilised when the combustion of the small residual amount of’ fixed products can be completed over the blow-pipe or in a stream of oxygen.The head may be improvised out of a flask with the bottom cut out. B. B. Chemical Researches on Sicilian Cheese. Spica and De Blasi (Stax. Sper. Ag. Itccl. a i i i . 133.)-The authors discuss the different kinds of Italian and Sicilian cheeses They dram attention to the fact that useful a,nalyses are very scarce; for instance the only analyses of “ Cacio-cavallo ” being those of Sartori (THE ANALYST, xviii. 17). They have therefore collected the results of 23 analyses made by themselves on typical cheeses these include 12 Placentian and 2 Majorcan cheeses and 9 of cacio-cavallo.” Their methods are as follows :-Preparation of the SampEe.-A square lump of about a kilogramme was cut out of the middle of the cheese ; this was scraped for a thicknes THE ANALYST.95 of 2 c.m. and kept in a stoppered bottle ; each time a portion was taken for analysis the top part was scraped off. Water.-5 grammes of cheese were mixed in a mortar with a glass pestle and then dried to constant weight at 110' C. Ash.-5 grammes were burnt in a platinum capsule. When carbonised the coal was washed with hot water to extract the soluble ash ; the carbon was then burnt at a high temperature and the solution added to the capsule and evaporated. Sodium ChZoride.-The ash was lixiviated and the chlorine estimated by silver nitrate volumetrically was calculated as NaCI. Phosphates were estimated by Spica's method (THE ANALYST xvii.11 6) ; the modification of adding sodium carbonate and sand free from iron to the cheese before incinerating was adopted, Pat.-10 grammes of cheese were extracted with petroleum ether in a '' Soxhlet " ; the soluble acids are estimated by this method as fat. Nitrogenous ikfatters.-These were estimated as total nitrogen proteid nitrogen ammoniacal nitrogen and amidic nitrogen. Total nitrogen was estimated by combustion with soda-lime ; 2 grammes of starch being added to 4 grammes of cheese ; proteid nitrogen was estimated by the combustion of the portion insoluble in hot water with the addition of the lead acetate precipitate; for ammoniacal nitrogen 5 grarrimes of cheese were washed on a filter with about a litre of cold water the filtrate evaporated and distilled with 5 grammes of magnesia and the ammonia titrated with N/10 sulphuric acid.The ztmidic nitrogen was estimated in the filtrate from the proteid nitrogen after elimination of soluble proteids by precipitation with acetate of lead the ammoniacal and nitric nitrogen if any being subtracted. Traces of nitrates were found in some samples of cheese. Acidity as lactic acid was estimated by washing 5 grammes of cheese till the washings were no longer acid and titrating with N/10 KOH. The means of the analyses were :-Placentian. Cacio-cavallo. Water . . Ash . . Fat I . Nitrogenous matters . . . Proteids . . Nitrogen total . , proteid . , amidic . , ammoniacal . NaCl . . p205 . . Acidity as lactic acid . . 29.06 9.46: 24.74 30.09 23-71" 5.056 3.714 1.171 0.09 1 5.04 1.197 1.55 23.67 7.63 25.49 29.25 23-63 4.865 3-780 0.987 0.097 3.39 1,278 1.74 * Possibly a misprint for 23.21 96 THE ANALYST.The most notable difference between these two types of cheese lies in the amidic [NOTE BY AssTRacTon.-Kjeldahl’s method is more suited to the analysis of cheese For much information that is not of an analytical nature, nitrogen than that used by the authors. the original paper must be consulted.] H. D. R. Stmdardising Acidimetric and Alkalimetric Solutions. (8~h00l of Mines Quarteyzy xiv. 62).-Parsons concludes from his experiments that the most accurate method of standardising is with potassium tetroxalate (vohmetrically). Of the gravita-tion methods the determination (of standard HCl) by precipitation as AgCl is given the preference. The tetroxalate as usually obtained frequently contains more or less acid (bi) oxalate. Using an excess of oxalir! acid for the first crystallization and keeping the soliltion hot for an hour or mora before cooling to cryatsllize out are especially advised. No material gain or loss by exposure to ordinary conditions or by drying over sulphuric acid was detected. Litmus was found to be the best indicator with it. The point taken is the distinct appearance of the blue (adding an alkaline solution from the burette). Cochineal methyl orange and turmeric are unsatisfactory. Acid potassium tartrate, strongly recommended by Biirntrager (Vid. Quarterly xiii. 175) was found to be more difficLzlt of preparation as it tends to retain an excess of acid. Bijrntrager’s directions are not sufiicient for obtaining a salt of the necesmry purity w. J. 8

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN893180073b

出版商:RSC    

年代:1893

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

96 THE ANALYST. CORRESPONDENCE. COUNTY ANALYST’S OFFICE, DARLINGTON, March loth, 1893. THE STOCK NITROGEN PROCESS. To the Editors of THE ANALYST, This method, if one may judge from the character of the discussion which followed the reading of my last communication upon the subject, appears to have reached a stage at which, and beyond which, no further information is to be elicited by either argument or assertion. If it needs anything mo~e to establish its claim to a front rank among accurate methods for the determination of nitrogen in organic bodies, it needs work. May I say to analysts who intend to try this new process, that the confession of a skilled and experienced operator (Mr. Allen) that he “ found it desirable,” in working the Kjeldahl process as now known, “ to make two or three determinations and take the highest result,” is in singular contrast with the fact that this same method has been selected as a standard of accuracy by those who have had most to say in criticising my process. And may I also say that I shall be most willing to do all I can, if applied to by letter, to help others over difficulties I have myself surmounted. Yours obediently, SIRS, W. F. KEATING STOCK.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8931800096

出版商:RSC    

年代:1893

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

SUPPLEMENT TO T.HE ANALYST. APRIL 1893. PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF PUBLIC ANALYSTS. As already notified in our issue of last month a special meeting of the Society of Public Analysts was held in the rooms of the Chemical Society Burlington House, on February 15th 1893. The meeting was convened to consider a series of resolutions drafted by the Council on the subject of certain proposed amendments in the laws relating to adulteration. There was a large attendance of members of the Society, and of other gentlemen interested in the working of the Food and Drugs Acts. In the unavoidable absence of the President (Sir Charles Cameron) the chair was taken by Mr. M. A. Adams. Amongst those present were Dr. Cameron M.P. the Hon. H. A. de Tatton Egerton M.P. Mr. Kearley M.P.Mr. G. M. Allender etc. Letters of regret at inability to be present were read from Sir C. Cameron President of the Society Sir Walter Foster M.P. Mr. Brunner M.P. Colonel Howard Vinceht M.P., Mr. H. J. Wilson M.P. Sir Henry Thompson Sir W. Pink Sir Joseph Fayrer and many others including most of such provincial Public Analysts as were unable to be present. The Chairman said that the meeting had been called under the auspices of the Society of Public Analysts for the purpose of discussing a series of resolutions which he presumed were in the hands of all present. It would be noticed that these resolutions were of greater interest to the general public and to traders liable to be affected by the operations of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts than they were to the Public Analyst himself in his professional capacity.He would remind those present that the subject which they were about to consider was altogether a modern institution. I n point of fact for practical purposes all that related to the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts was not more than twenty years old. I t was not, therefore a matter of surprise that in the first essay at legislation flaws should be found to exist and in the first attempts at putting into execution a difficult measure technical difficulties should have become apparent. Between the legal and the technical difficulties however there was this great difference that whereas in ~e natural order of things improvements in the technique of analysis were bound to follow as a necessary consequence with the progressive development of the analytical art on the other hand such legal flaws as existed in tho Statute grew more and more conspicuous as time rolled on.And so it had come about that the Council of th 98 SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. Society had had their attention drawn to the statutory aspects of the matter and they had thought it would be a most desirable thing to invite representative men, whose interests were so largely involved in the matters treated of in the resolutions, to assist in their deliberations. In the name of the Society therefore he welcomed all those who had honoured it by their presence that evening; and he cordially invited them in the first place to take part in the discussion when their experience could elucidate any point ; and when the proper time came to signify acquiescence in or disapproval of each resolution when put to the vote.He proposed as suggested by the Council to take the resolutions seriatim to move them then to ask certain gentlemen to second them and after that to ask anyone who felt disposed to speak to do so. (6 That amendment of the laws relating to adulteration is urgently required.” He considered this was a kind of preamble which would hardly require much discussion. He would thereforo with the permission of the meeting unless someone wished to speak upon it take that as agreed upon and pass on to the second resolution namely : (‘ That the present Acts often operate unfairly on the retail traders and that provision is necessary to ensure in many cases of adulteration the prosecution of the real offenders.” Mr.Fairley of Leeds in seconding the resolution said that the present Acts failed in their operation with respect to retailers : Firstly in the want of uniform working. Wherever the Acts were inefficiently worked the dishonest adulterating trader could undersell the honest trader. The present system was also very unequal in its administration as by the vagaries of local authorities adjacent towns or districts differed most widely in their enforcement of the Acts. In some places the food supply was well looked after and the magistrates inflicted fines having some real relation to the magnitude of the profits derived from the offences committed. I n others the inspection was inefficient and the present Acts neither provided nor suggested any means for securing that inspectors had some reasonable knowledge of their work or that they should do that work.In some places the magistrates also inflicted fines which one day’s fraud would be more than sufficient to cover. He thought it was worthy of consideration whether a minimum as well as a maximum fine should not be fixed by law for certain classes of offences. Secondly there was the incidence of responsibility. The retailers often complained that the present Acts pressed unduly upon them. A retailer who sold an adulterated article of food whether he knew that it was adulterated or not, injured the public and was made liable to a penalty. I n common law as anyone found in possession of stolen goods was liable to a penalty-and as in all cases of theft every effort was made to discover the original thief-so it should be with the adulterator of food.In his opinion it was well worthy of consideration whether the adulteration of food and drugs should not be made an offence distinct from that of selling such food. It ought to be a dangerous thing to manufacture adulterated articles and it ought also to be a dangerous thing to take any part in supplying them to the consumer. The first resolution was as follows SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. 99 Thirdly with reference to securing the identity of samples. I t appeared reasonable that the vendor or person supplying articles from which samples were taken for analysis should have the right to affix his own seal to the samples taken by the inspector in addition to the inspector’s seal If desired the seal belonging to the vendor should not indicate the origin of the samples.The more perfect and efficient any acts of this kind could be made the more the honest traders had to gain by them; and he thought that no one would contend that the present Acts were not capable of great improvement in nearly every point connected with their working. Mr. Henry Gray could not agree with Mr. Fairley as to the fine inflicted for a day’s fraud being covered by a day’s profits. He (Mr. Gray) believed that Mr. Fairley could not understand very much about the profits made by retailers if he concluded that that was the case. He thought that the hardships of the retailer were caused not by retail men themselves but by the wholesale vendors or the packers of most of the articles.That ought to be made clear and he hoped the point would be discussed. The Hon. Alan de Tatton Egerton M.P. said he would give the meeting his experience as chairman of a committee whose duty it was to see that the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts were properly carried out. In the early stages of his connection with the committee he remembered a prosecution being instituted by the Vestry of St George Hanover Square in a case of pepper adulteration and h e remembered making a calculation for his own satisfaction by which he showed that. the producer of the article-the packer as Mr. Gray had called hirn-was making a profit out of the adulteration of no less a sum than $1,200 a year. He knew that in many cases it was the practice of the wholesale trader to pay the fines inflicted; he took the chance and the law of chances as was well known was very much in favour of those who played the game.It was self-evident that where the wholesale trader could see his way to a gross profit of $1,200 in a year he could very well afford to pay fines even at the rate of $5 a week and still be a great gainer. A change in the law as recommended in the resolution was very urgently needed; and he was clearly of opinion that the reform suggested by it must be for the benefit not only of the retailer but what was still more to be desired of the general public. Mr. Charles Estcourt of Manchester inquired whether this particular resolution was applicable to producers out of the kingdom. Was it suggested that the producers in foreign countries should be pursued? He stated that although he had read of this as a suggested amendment it was evident that our Food and Drugs Act would not run out of this -kingdom.He also stated that under the Margarine Act there was now no difficulty in reaching the importer or wholesale merchant. Indeed in Manchester a week or so before the inspectors had visited a wholesale merchant, and had taken samples from unmarked iirkins and these proving to be margarine, a conviction ensued. The Chairman thought that it would be impossible to prosecute the original offenders when they resided outside English jurisdiction. Mr. Estcourt said that in Manchester if there was an absolute warranty given, and if it proved to be a false one by the fact that the Public Analyst certified the sample to be adulterated the giver of the warranty was always prosecuted.Bu 100 SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. a difficulty was that warranties were often not given and that therefore the wholesale vendors were unreachable. That state of a;ffairs should be guarded against in any amendments of the Act and could easily be met by following the lines of the Margarine Act by which an invoice became itself a warranty. Mr. Adkins did not know whether it was competent for visitors to make suggestions for altering the existing state of affairs He had come to the meeting with the intention of listening only; but as so few suggestions had been made he would like to make one-namely that the retail dealer and the wholesale dealer should be made co-defendants in the case.Then when they were both before the magistrate it would be possible to determine whether the wholesale or the retail dealer was the real offender. Dr. Charles Cameron M.P. said that he had been made an honorary member of the Society of Public Analysts in consequence of the part he took in the passing of the Act of 1875. He had at the present time a Bill before the House which was intended to meet certain difficulties in the Sale of Food and Drugs Act ; and among other things he believed it would perfectly meet the difficulty at which the resolution was aimed. He proposed that every person who sold foods or drugs should sell them with an implied warranty; that the invoice should be a warranty even on a verbal order unless the vendor gave a written declaration to the contrary.The meeting would be interested to hear that the Federation of Grocers was ardently advocating a change in the law. Certain of the wholesale producers such as the Coffee-Growers' Association were also supporting the proposal I n connection with this measure he (Dr. Cameron) suggested that the wholesale dealer should have his goods open to inspection in precisely the same manner as the retail dealer; and he was glad to say that Mr. Colman-who might be considered as the leading mouthpiece of the wholesaJe men-admitted that this proposal was reasonable. It would hardly be necessary to say that Mr. Colman did not agree with some of the other proposals of the Bill; he did so on the ground that it would involve him and wholesale dealers generally in a large amount of trouble; but he (Dr.Cameron) believed the effect would be to make the wholesale dealers more careful. Mr. Estcourt had asked whether the foreign wholesale dealers could be got at. Of course they could not. If the first man who sold the goods in this country was made to sell them with an implied warranty he would thus be got at and he would not then buy an adulterated article from the foreign producer. I t would pay the wholesale man to have an analysis made of the goods he bought. If a dealer ordered pepper and a man from abroad sent him a mixture he had his remedy in not paying and in leaving the other to sue him. He found so much interest taken in the proposed amendment of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act and such a wonderful agreement so far as certain general principles were concerned that he thought it would be quite feasible to get a Bill read a second time without opposition on the understanding that it should go before a Select Committee.If that were done all the parties interested would have an opportunity of representing their views; new clauses could be proposed and thrashed out and everything would be put in a fair way for the matter to be taken up next session with every prospect of its being carried to a successful issue SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. 101 Mr. E. Hudson Kearley M.P. claimed to have some right t o speak on the question as occupying what might be termed a hybrid connection with the sale of food products. It would perhaps seem rather a curious anomaly that a man could claim to be a producer a wholesale dealer and a retailer but without going into details he would say that he claimed to be in this position.I n connection with the working of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act he wished to say first that he believed it was generally admitted that the working of the Act was intended primarily to protect the interests of the consumer and the drawback was that the Act was not being so throughly enforced as it might be. Of course every person who came within the operation of the Act and suEered from some short-coming felt aggrieved ; the retailer complained at times that he had sold an article believing it to be pure, and that consequently a hardship was being inflicted on him for the misdeeds of another person over whom he had no control.He (Mr. Kearley) admitted that much could be said in that direction; but the retailer himself in very many cases was a flagrant and guilty offender and as the nearest source of distribution to the consumer was naturally the retailer he thought that it was very essential that the Local Authorities-such as they were-should be called upon to enforce the Act in a thoroughly sound manner. He would give some few details of importance which were within his own cognizance as to how the Act was being carried out in places where if the Local Authorities performed their functions properly it could be better carried out especially in regard to the sale of margarine as pure butter. The cases could be well authenticated. The law had become a dead letter by reason of the Local Authorities failing to put it in motion; a Trade Protection Society had been formed and the following were the results of their investigations.I n Wandsworth a, man was found to have been selling margarine as pure butter for some months. The Association took samples and had them analyzed and they communicated with the Inspector of Nuisances as they understood he was the proper person to apply to but apparently no steps were taken.-They had a similar case at Gravesend and were afterwards informed by the inspector that a sample had been taken at their instigation but was found to be pure. On a further sample being taken by the Association the same week it was found to be largely adulterated.-A well-known tradesman at Tunbridge Wells had been repeatedly summoned and heavily fined but never by the Local Authority.On a very recent occasion the amount of the penalty WBE 2.10 the czse czus;n~ -a 8 b oreat deal nf lncal sensatlion_. This man immediately plastered his window all over with posters ‘‘ Pure Butter 1s. per Ib.,” but continued to sell margarine as such. He was now being summoned again but had attempted to evade his liability by stating that it was his manager’s doing. This man had a branch in another town and was there summoned by the Association. He wrote to the officer whose name appeared on the summons offering him $10 if he would with-draw the summons. The letter was produced in court and a fine of &15 was imposed. - A member of the Association recently purchased a business in the neighbourhood of Notting Hill and employed the late vendor’s manager.The latter at once stated that everyone in the road sold margarine at Is. per pound as pure butter and he wished to do the same. The new proprietor however declined to do so and contented himself with supplying as good a butter as he possibly coul 102 SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. -at a cost of 110s. to 112s. per cwt. His trade fell off and he then called the inspector's attention to the matter but was told to let others alone and he would be let alone himself. This shop had owing to this unfair competition to be closed. -At Brixton a man had for a long time been in the habit of selling margarine as'butter, and repeated demands were made to induce the proper authorities to take the matter up but without avail.The Association sent their officer who took a sample and divided the same when the man rushed at him swept the samples off the counter, and told him to do his worst and also told him that if he came there again he would be ill-treated.-A member of the Association referred to was recently proposing to buy a shop in the Holloway Road. The would-be vendor stated that he invariably sold margarine as butter and that he did not fear any inspector. This same member also has a shop in Upton Park and one of his employes left him to go to an opponent who was about to open a new branch. This inan told his late fellow-employds that his present master was not so opposed to his own interests as his previous one and had no scruples whatever as to honesty that he never sold anything but margarine as butter even at 1s.2d. per lb. The Association then took samples and finding the facts of the case to be as stated summoned the offending tradesman who went into the box and his wife and son also and they all swore that it was purely an accident whereupon the magistrate dismissed the case with costs against the Association.-Mr. Kearley said that it had been proposed to consider all goods coming from the wholesale dealer as being sold under an implied warranty. The only objection he (the speaker) had to this was that supposing the retailer proved to be dishonest how would it be possible for the wholesaler to know that the article sold retail mas part of the identical one supplied by him and for which he was supposed to be responsible ? Dr. Cameron explained that as the law now stood if a retailer produced a written warranty from the wholesale dealer he was exempt and the prosecution must be against the wholesaler.The only difference that he made was to suggest the acceptance of the invoice as a warranty. Mr. Kearley would suppose that it was incumbent on the retailer to obtain a written warranty in order to be exempt. How was he to know that the sample supplied to him by the wholesaler was the identical one referred to. There was another suggestion made which he (Mr. Kearley) thought most appropriate and might tend to get rid of a great many evils; that was that inspectors should have the most free access to the warehouses of the wholesalers. He could speak as a large wholesaler and he would maintain that it was only fair in the interests of the community that the inspector should have just as free access there as the inspector of factories had in factories He should be empowered to go whenever he liked to take samples from the bulk and the mere knowledge that an inspector might call at any moment would prevent adulteration going on.Dr. Cameron remarked that a clause to that effect was contained in his Bill. Mr. Kearley said it had been suggested that the foreign adulterator should be hounded to his den and the opinion had been expressed by the Chairman that that was practically impossible. I t was indeed impossible to go to his lair and find him there in the midst of his guilt ; but he (Mr. Kearley) would not admit for a momen SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. 103 that there were not means whereby he could be struck at a distance for every article that was shipped from abroad must arrive at a port of entry where it could be subjected to the examination of the Customs officials to see whether it was contraband.He thought that at that point the Customs authorities in association with those officially interested in the prevention of adulteration might make periodical examinations-continuous inapections if thought necessary-so that adulteration might be stamped out or that the penalty might be paid. That would involve no loss to the consignee because he would be only the recipient of the goods. The man who shipped the goods would be the sufferer because the authorities on this side would confiscate the goods. He thought that the exporter from abroad would give up his evil practices if that were enforced.He was delighted to see that there was now some public interest taken in the subject There were other Members of Parliament who had the question very much at heart. He would suggest that the Public Analysts who were most concerned with the carrying out of the Adulteration Acts should assist in incorporating into any Bill which might come before Parliament such provisions as would render it almost impossible for adulteration to go on at all. Public Analysts must necessarily possess greater knowledge than Members of Parliament and therefore if there was a need as was apparent from the unanimous expression of opinion at the meeting that evening for the evil to be scotched if not killed he would say that with the combined knowledge of Public Analysts and the desire to safeguard the interests of traders generally they would succeed in getting the Acts to work in an amended form if necessary-and conse-quently confer benefit on the consumer.The Chairman then p u t the second resolution which was carried unanimously. Mr. Pattinson (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) seconded the third resolution which read as follows : “That in view of the fact that as is shown in the Local Government Board reports the Food Acts are practically dead letters in a large area of the United Kingdom it is necessary that adequate provision be made for securing uniformity in their application and in their due enforcement .” He said that in the interests of the public the reform suggested was very much needed.According to the report of the Local Government Board there were 27 boroughs and 4 counties in the United Kingdom in which the Act was completely ignored and a great number of boroughs availed themselves of it to a very limited extent. He considered that an absurdly inadequate number of samples were sent to Public Analysts for analysis. This state of affairs was not due to there not being any necessity for carrying out the Act because even now of the samples sent in, at least 12 per cent were found to be adulterated. In the districts where the Act was ignored there was no doubt quite as much adulteration and probably far more. There were several reasons why the Acts were not carried out in those places some wished to avoid the expense; in others the Authorities were composed mainly of tradesmen and it was scarcely in human nature that bodies so constituted would be very active in trying to bring prosecutions upon themselves.Both in the interests of the public and of all honest traders he thought the time had come when som 104 SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. authority should have the power of insisting that the Act should be carried out thoroughly throughout the country. The Hon. Alan de Tatton Egerton M.P. said he would like to be permitted to move not an amendment but an addendum to the resolution; viz. to insert in the last line after the word ( ( application ” the word ( ( standardizing.” The object was to get at some means by which Public Analysts could know where they stood. At the present time there was a very great difficulty in carrying out the Acts with regard, for instance to milk as one of the most important matters and with regard to butter as another important matter both as to the amount of fat in the case of milk and as to the amount of water to be contained in the sample in the case of butter.There were other similar and perhaps subsidiary matters such as pepper and mustard and various other things which were to a certain extent mixtures; but he thought it was very important that there should be a standard fixed. At the present time-owing first to the proceedipgs of Somerset House and secondly to the action of the magistrates following upon that-the standard by which milk was judged had been whittled down until at the present moment it was next to impossible, except in very flagrant cases to get any convictions at all.equally to butter in so far as adulteration with foreign fat was concerned and inore especially as to the amount of water it contained. There was another subject which was now cropping up and coming very much to the front and that was the question which was of special interest in his own county of Cheshire-he referred to what were technically known as All these subjects required the most careful consideration and at the present time Public Analysts and the authorities appointing them were not supported by the one Authority if the word could be used by which they ought to be supported-the Authority set up by the +4ct viz., Somerset House. Nothing short of the strong opinion of Parliament would ever bring upon the Minister concerned the pressure which ought to be brought upon him in order that there should be a Departmental Committee assisted by the best-known Public Analysts of the country to establisb once and for all what were to be fair standards by which all these prosecutions were to be conducted.Mr. Cassal thought the introduction of the suggested word would strengthen the resolution ; and while it might be advisable to discuss the matter under No. 5 , there could be no serious objection to introducing the word. He seconded the amendment. Dr. Cameron deprecated the introduction of the word. The question of standards was fought out very fully when the late Bill was before the House. I t possessed the drawback that if a standard were adopted for milk the standard of the lowest milk must be taken, The same remarks applied .filled cheeses.” Mr. Otto Hehner No. Dr. Cameron said he could show that Public Analysts objected to the fixing of a standard. Lowest standards might be fixed but it was a question which would have to be fought ouf. He had at one time been entirely favourable to standards, but the reasons which were adduced against the principle had caused him to entertain a hostile opinion to any attempt to standardize. Mr. Otto Hehner said it had been asked Why were these Acts not enforced SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. 105 Whose fault was i t ? Clause 10 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act made it incumbent upon all vestries and district and county and borough authorities to appoint one or more Public Analysts.The Local Government Board had in spite of much resistance for years brought pressure to bear upon various authorities, and had compelled them to appoint Public Analysts and the result was that 235 appointments had been made But there was nothing whatever in the Act of 1875 to force the Authority to apply it. I t was absolutely essential that the law be amended and that it should not be left to Local Authorities to apply or neglect it just as they pleased. The Analyst had nothing whatever to do with the carrying out of the Acts except to analyze the samples which were brought to him. He had nothing to do with the collection-he did not even know where the samples came from; and in fact he was absolutely in the hands of the Authorities above him.It was very seldom that the inspector had carte blanche from his Council to do as he pleased. The inspector mostly collected samples when he was ordered to do so either by the Town Council the Food and Drugs Committee (if there was one), or by the Sanitary Committee. Not unfrequently a resolution was passed by the Council or the Committee that the inspector should collect a certain number of samples thereby conveying sufficient warning to all whom it might concern. The inspector therefore was also powerless although in his (Mr. Hehner’s) opinion he often might do a great deal more than he did. An inspector as a rule was saddled with many other duties. I n counties and in small boroughs it was very often the case that the police or the inspectors of weights and measures acted as inspectors under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act.I€ a tall police-sergeant went into a country village shop and asked for a pennyworth of mustard-which was a not very usual occurrence in the ordinary course of business-then of course the dealer was forewarned and he took uncommonly good care to supply him with a genuine article. He (Mr. Hehner) knew from his own experience that this applied to very many other articles. I t was a farce to expect that men who were well known in a rural district should succeed in putting down adulteration however anxious.they might be to carry out their office in an efficient manner. What was wanted was a system whereby proper inspectors would be appointed; but as the Acts were worked at present these if appointed would have nothing to do.It might appear at first sight that in many cases the Acts were not enforced because the Councils in towns and cities contained members-as they frequently did-who were directly interested in the sale of food and drugs. If however the reports of the Local Government Board were referred to it would be seen that about the same proportion of County Councils, which were mostly composed of county gentlemen failed to apply the Acts just as much as the Town and City Councils which often largely consisted of shopkeepers. What the reason was he acknowledged he could not fathom. The delinquency so far as the counties were concerned was greater than would appear at the first blush. It could be shown that year by year the Act was being more worked.From the year 1877 to the year 1881 only 16,668 samples were taken or one for every 1,520 of the whole population of England; in the next year (1882) 21,772 samples were taken, or one for every 1,237 of the inhabitants; from 1887 to 1891 26,846 or one for every 1,060 inhabitants; and in 1892 29,028 samples were taken or one for ever 106 SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. 999 inhabitants. But as a matter of fact that progress was due to the spirited action of a very few Authorities as he would proceed to show. There were a few districts which carried out the Act honourably and they brought up the average. But then what about the boroughs and counties which did not apply the Acts? I t appeared from the last annual report of the Local Government Board that of 55 administrative counties in England and Wales only 13 had worked the Act at all fairly i.e.in accordance with the requirements of the Local Government Board -requirements which were entirely theoretical; namely that one sample should- be taken for every 1,000 inhabitants. Eleven other counties had taken one sample to every 2,000 inhabitants-about half as many as in the view of the Board they ought to take; whilst the majority of 30 counties either did not apply the Act at all or contented themselves with a dozen samples per annum or less which was only just sufficient to prevent their being stigmatized in the Government reports as malefactors to the inhabitants. Thus in Wales with the exception of Glamorgan-shire not one county authority had done anything that might pass for its duty to its inhabitants.In the whole of Wales which contained a rural population of 820,000, 174 samples were taken per annum. Then with regard to boroughs out of 131 given in the report only 39 had worked the Act at all honestly another 39 had made a more or less weak attempt to the extent of about one sample to every 2,000 inhabitants and no less than 61 had taken no action at all or only the pretence of action; 27 had never taken a single sample. As the hon. member for Devonport was present he thought it right to inform him that Devonport was one of those places. In fact the greater portion of England flagrantly neglected to carry out the Acts. He would give a few instances of bad cases in 1892 Cornwall with 299,000 inhabitants was satisfied with taking 29 samples per annum ; Monmouthshire with 197,000 took 16; Norfolk with a population of 288,000 took 35 samples; North-umberland having 260,000 inhabitants took only 28 samples ; and Oxfordshire, with 127,000 was content with the small number of 14 samples; whilst Devonshire, Derbyshire Hertfordshire Nottinghamshire Shropshire Wiltshire Yorkshire and many others worked the Acts still less-that is had almost neglected to work them at all.From the Census returns he came to the conclusion that out of every 100 inhabitants in the kingdom two were dealers in articles which came under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts The Census did not state how many establishments there were; but for the purpose of comparison he would take it that four persons on the average constituted an establishment; it would follow that for every 200 persons there was one shop vending food drink or drugs.The Government recommended that one sample should be taken for every 1,000 head of population; so that at this very modest figure each shop would be visited once in five years. When it was considered that milkmen changed their milk or got new supplies twice a day; that each grocer dealt in a multitude of samples subject to the Acts which were frequently renewed it became obvious that the requirements of the Local Government Board were so absurdly small that they did not meet the case. It could only be the sheer blindness of the Authority which prevented their doing their work. In most cases, also magistrates looked upon adulteration as a small matter.A small dealer say, is summoned for having sold a pennyworth of milk containing 10 per cent. of adde SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. 107 water; the magistrates calculated that one-tenth of a penny was not really very much of a fraud. They generally looked upon the offences in proportion to their actual money value without touching upon or apparently even understanding the broad question of the good of the country. In the three classes of butter milk and spirits alone he (Mr. Hehner) calculated upon the very lowest computation that the country lost every year or paid to somebody who ought not to have it every year, about 62,000,000. The value of the imports of butter into England so far as he could make out amounted to something like 612,000,000 worth per annum and of margarine about 63,000,000.What the value of the milk-supply of the country was he would be afraid to say; but anyone could calculate from these quantities and the percentages of adulterated samples found how immense the loss was to the country by the adulteration of these articles. If magistrates would only look upon the broad side of the question and not at the trivial one and would make up their minds to stop the evil he believed they could render enormous assistance in putting a stop to adulteration. In his opinion by far the greater bulk of the fines inflicted under the Act were ridiculously small-they were often as little as 5s. or 2s. 6d.; and when a Local Authority had for some time set the Acts in motion and had had offenders brought up in the police-courts and when the heavy machinery had been brought into motion and a fine of 1s.was imposed they thought it was not worth while to work the Acts any more. These were the main reasons why the Acts largely failed in their objects. Mr. Thomson wished to draw attention to the question of introducing the word ‘I standard.” The matter was one which required discussion. The Chairman thought the matter could be dealt with under the fifth resolution. Mr. E. W. Voelcker thought the matter could be made very much clearer He thought it desirable that the word Mr. Cassal thought that an amendment might be inserted in resolution 5 and Dr. Frank L. Teed strontly objected to standardizinx at all. Mr. Pattinson could not see any objection to the words uniformity in ” being The Chairman suggested that the question of ( l standard ” had better be post-The Ron.Alan de Tatton Egerton having withdrawn his amendment the third The Chairman then called upon Dr. Turner to second the fourth resolution which “That in order that the Local Government Board should have better control over the working of the Acts a portion of the expenses of working them should be borne by the Imperial Revenue.” Dr. George Turner hoped that if he slipped out of one resolution into another the meeting would forgive him. The resolution which he had the honour to second was one of considerable importance because he believed that upon it the whole of the benefit to be derived from any alteration in the Acts would hang. Some people by inserting the words “uniformity in.” standardizing ” should not be introduced.then the words ‘‘ uniformity in ’’ might be used. embodied in the resolution. poned until resolution 5 was under consideration. resolution was then agreed to. read as follows 108 SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. might be disposed to think that it would be better if each district were to work on its own responsibility. But there were certain things that people did not do well for themselves. If for instance a man required to have a tooth extracted he generally asked someone else to put the forceps on. There was no doubt that the whole matter hinged on the question of money. Local Authorities and County Councils could not be trusted to carry out the Acts and to make the appointments under those Acts. They tried to cut down the expenses consequently it was not a certainty that the men who were selected for these appointments were perfectly fitted for the work.Sometimes they were not. Again Public Analysts were shamefully badly paid. I t was wonderful how cheap chemistry was. If the matter were left in the hands of the Local Government Board and it was made essential that a certain number of samples should be taken per head of the population it would be of great benefit to the country. County Councils were not capable of seeing the benefits that lay in the Acts. The amount of money which went out of this country as payment for things which might very well be raised here by small farmers was something very consider-able. R e was perfectly sure that the agricultural depression in this country was largely due to the fact that the farmer did not bestir himself to pick up that which mas beneath his feet.Some articles coming from abroad were scientifically adulterated and the manufacturers there could always cut the throats of the producers in this country by adulterating down just below the price at which the article could be honestly made. There could be no doubt that scientific processes of adulteration abroad were lowering prices in this country to an extent which made it hardly worth while to produce. There was a Margarine Act which made it compulsory that every sample of margarine should be labelled as such. He could go through twenty or thirty villages in almost any part of the country and he would never see a sample of that commodity.The reason was very simple-it was sold as butter ; and everybody who knew anything about the subject knew that margarine was disposed of in this way. It was essential for the agriculturists that they should have cheap agricultural labour but if the labourer was to be cheated out of 25 per cent. of the profit of his labour and if he were getting 12s. a week and was cheated out of 3s. the retail trader was simply being paid 3s. a week out of the labourer’s earnings and the labourer got the 9s. Mr. M. Henry said that he would be very sorry to see a portion of the expense borne by the Local Authorities. He considered that if an Act of this halting character were passed it would be just as farcical in its application as the present one. Only an absolutely compulsory Act for which the Government bore the cost and collected the fines would meet the case.If the fines inflicted by magistrates were contrasted it would be seen that if a publican was summoned for selling adulterated beer a fine of 625 might be imposed ; whereas if on the other hand a case of adulterating a sample of butter was taken the fine might be 5s. or 2s. 6d. In the one case it was a Government-engineered prosecution instituted by the Government for revenue purposes and the best legal experts were brought to support the prosecution; in the other case solicitors who half the time did not know their business- and who were not trained to it either - were employed. He could give an instance within his own knowledge where a man boasted that in one shop in the North of England he made a profit of €20 a week out of selling margarine a SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST.109 butter ; and that man had a great many shops throughout the country and the Local Authority where he swindled the public had never yet instituted a single prosecution. He (Mr. Henry) did not believe that the Act would be enforced in a more satisfactory manner if the Local Authorities bore half the expense of doing it. He was not speaking from the Public Analyst’s point of view but from that of the consumer. He moved as an amendment “That this meeting asks that there shall be a compulsory application of the Adulteration Acts by Local Authorities under the direction of a Ministry of Public Health.” Mr. Angel1 referred to the manner in which some retailers labelled their articles.He knew of a case of an article being labelled thus ‘‘ This is sold as a mixture of whatever it shall contain.” Mr. Cheshire thought that the Act could be made a great deal more eflicacious if Public Analysts had a little more to do with the working of the Act. He knew that, in some districts at any rate the Public Analyst made the suggestion that so many samples should be obtained. If the Public Analyst had more liberty in that direction he could make valuable suggestions to the inspectors. He also thought that if the Local Government Board had a little. more control in that way Public Authorities would be able to get at the wholesale traders more easily. That was done to some extent at Eastings. If a retail trader complained that he was being supplied with an adulterated article; the inspector was ready to go to his shop and take a sample at the time the goods came in.Dr. Newton thought that if Public Analysts had the courage of their opinions, they would insist that the inspectors should be under the control of the Public Analyst. The taking of samples was half the battle and if a man who was known to the shopkeepers of a town was employed there would be no necessity for a Public Analyst because the shopkeepers would always give an inspector who was known a genuine sample. Mr. Henry said that the resolution suggested that the Local Government Board should be asked to contribute a portion of the expense. He thought that the Local Authorities would not be veryprompt in coming forward with the other portion.His amendment was that the working of the Act should be made compulsory. Did Mr. Henry suggest that a portion of the expenses should be paid by the Local hnthorities and a portion by the Local tiovernment Board? or did he suggest that the whole should be paid by the Local Government Board or the whole by the Local Authorities? As a matter of fact under the Acts Public Analysts were really ofhers of the Local Government Board as well as officers of the Local Authorities. Mr. Henry replied that he suggested inspectors should be appointed and that they should be sent round the country just a8 the Excise inspectors were. The resolution as printed was then put to the meeting and carried. The fifth resolution was as follows : The substance referred to was lard.Mr. Cassel said that the point was not clear. ‘( That in view of this it is desirable that there should be a duly constituted Chemical Department of the Local Government Board with whom the Public Analysts as officers of the Local Government Board should be placed in direct relation. 110 SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. Mr. Alfred H. Allen in seconding the resolution said that counsel were of opinion that there should be an oficial Chemical Department which did not exist at present. I t was proposed that there should be a Chemical Officer attached to the Local Government Board. There was already a Medical Department which gave authoritative decisions on public medical questions but the chemical side was left unrepresented. He constantly received from the Canadian and dnierican Govern-ments most valuable blue-books upon various matters connected with the Food and Drugs Acts of those countries but the Department here did not take the trouble to send out such books with two exceptions to their own officers.He only knew of the reports issued by the Local Government Board by hearsay. Although his own reports and those of other British Public Analysts were quoted in the returns of the Local Government Board he and they were not in touch with the Department. It was a fact that legislation was projected and was actually being carried out in America to stop the adulteration of lard with cotton-seed-oil before Public Analysts in this country were even aware of the adulteration. He had also heard it stated that the adulteration of pepper with ground olive-stones-known as poivrette-was well known to a Government Department in this country; but it was not communicated to Public Analysts who were left to find it out for themselves.If there were a Chemical Official attached to the Local Government Board it would be his business to be in touch with foreign officials occupying similar positions; and it would be his duty if he had reason to believe that a new form of adulteration was being carried out and had been noticed in certain districts to warn Public Analysts to be prepared for it. I t would be found that such an official would have plenty to do to look after these and kindred matters together with the water supply which would be a most important duty of the Department. He did not suggest that the proposed Chemical Officer should act as a referee under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act.He thought that if the certificate of a Public Analyst upon any sample was disputed the Chemical Officer should be applied to and he should send the disputed sample to an Analyst who had special experience in the particular kind of analysis upon which the certificate was based. At the time the present Act was passed the only court of reference thought to be available was the Revenue Laboratory of Somerset House and the officials there had thrust upon them a disagreeable additional duty outside and beyond their ordinary work as Excise chemists. They had a score or two of disputed samples submitted to them annually quite apart from their ordinary duties and they were expected to make themselves conversant with the best methods of food and drug analysis.On that account they were placed in a false position and one it was not fair to place them in. They had been called on to undertake duties with which they were not familiar and had evaded the responsibility attaching to their office. An incom-petent dairymaid in Ireland prepared butter containing 19 to 20 per cent. of water, and as the butter was not made for sale the referees regarded such butter as genuine, and fixed their limit accordingly thus making the said dairymaid the referee under the Act. He Mr. Allen believed that to fix standards by Act of Parliament would be a very great mistake. It was true that standards had been established in the case of spirits but then spirits were capable of being analyzed with very great accuracy, and their strength could be adjusted with precision ; hence they were not liable to th SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST.111 variations which were common to butter and milk. Any standards resolved on should be fixed by the proposed Department of the Local Government Board in consultation with experts and they ought to be capable of revision a t any time by that Depart-ment as a central Authority. Standards under such circumstances might be tolerated; but he thought that to lay down standards for food generally would tend very largely to prevent improved processes of analysis being devised. The standards should be laid down by the best authority The incompetent or careless dairymaid was at present the authority with regard to butter.She was the referee-and that was a thing which was not to be tolerated in future. With reference to the extent to which adulteration was being carried on he had made a calculation based on actual analytical results showing that in Sheffield last year the public lost upwards of $5,000 by paying for water instead of milk. Mr. Thomson said he had been instructed that if he certified that st certain sample of milk had been adulterated with a given quantity of water a prosecution could be instituted; but that if he gave the precise facts and stated that the milk was adulterated with a certain quantity of water as judged by a standard no action could be brought against the person who sold the adulterated milk. He thought that standards should be recognised by the Adulteration L 4 ~ t as a means of simplifying the work of Public Analysts; then the prosecution of a person who sold milk under the standard would not necessarily prove him dishonest.He believed under the present arrangement honest men had been charged with and fined for ‘‘ fraudulently adulterating their milk with water.” The resolution was then carried. The Chairman then called on Mr. Cassal to second the sixth resolution as “ That the present system of reference in the case of disputed analyses is Mr. Cassal believed that the resolution which had been placed in his hands by his colleagues was perhaps the most difficult and delicate of all the resolutions on the paper. He was however considerably relieved by the fact that Mr. Allen had already dealt with the subject and had indeed said enough to warrant the passing of the resolution by the meeting.That the present system was unsatisfactory he thought most persons who had any experience of the working of the Acts would agree. The system had never worked well and it was obvious to Public Analysts to Local Authorities to inspectors and to magistrates that that system was objectionable from every point of view to all who had anything to do with the Acts either as prosecutors or for prosecutors or as defendants or for defendants. It was necessary, in order to understand the resolution to explain the origin of the reference of samples in disputed cases to Somerset House It had already been shown that evening that at the time of the passing of the Adulteration Act Somerset House was the only place of bottles and tubes; it was the only Government Department that was supposed to be in any sense scientific.All the others were apparently not scientific in any sense whatever. But the Somerset House Chemical Department, he believed he was right in saying had originated in a Department which was engaged in the determination of the amount of alcohol in spirits and ordinary under : unsatisfactory and ought to be entirely remodelled. 112 SUPPLEMENT TO TEE ANALYST. alcoholic liquids and in the determination of the amount of moisture in tobacco; and he hoped he would not be considered as doing an injustice to gentlemen whom he regarded personally as friends by stating what he believed to be true-namely, that for many years their scientific labours were confined to the estimations referred to.It was however a fact that since the passing of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act and the thrusting of the reference in disputed cases on to the shoulders of the officials at Somerset House those officials had laboured hard to master the processes of analysis which had been mainly discovered by the Public Analysts of the country, and which had !been principally brought out at the meetings of this Society. He was prepared also to acknowledge that the Somerset House officials had made some investigations of their own which it might have been better if they had not made, and that they had stated some results which however they had never subjected to the test of scientific criticism at the Society of Public Analysts or elsewhere.He might however congratulate the officials of Somerset House on the measure of success which had attended their efforts while he could only regret that that success had not been greater. It was an unfortunate fact that the relations existing between the Somerset House officials and the Public Analysts in consequence of disagreements with respect to certificates had not been cordial as the Past President had said, ever since the passing of the Act. He would take the opportunity of correcting the assumption which had recently been made by a writer in a paper which he presumed was held by some to be an important print-namely the Pharmaceutical Journal -that there was any bitter or unpleasant personal feeling on the part of Public Analysts towards the gentlemen who filled official positions at Somerset House.He very much feared that some of those gentlemen themselves thought that there was ; but he thoroughly believed that all Public Analysts were most anxious to remove any impression of that kind and ihat it had no real foundation. He believed that they entertained-and he on his part most certainly did entertain-the greatest personal respect for Dr. Bell and for his colleagues. He (Mr. Cassal) considered that their views and proceedings while often mistaken were quite conscientious. Having said this he must state his belief that all Public Analysts were strongly of opinion that the Somerset House officials should have nothing whatever to do with the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts. It was no doubt diacult for his colleagues and himself to make good their position in the eyes of others who were not as intimately acquainted with the real circumstances of the case as they were them-selves.It was difficult for them to fully explain even to reasonable and fair-minded men how it was that they had long held the opinion that the system of reference should be remodelled altogether and why it was that they thought as shown by the resolution immediately preceding that for the Somerset House reference should be substituted a reference to a Chemical Department of the Local Government Board, to which should be attached a properly-qualified Chemical Officer who should of necessity have been a Public Analyst of extensive experience and who would seek, in special cases of reference for the assistance of persons specially qualified to deal with such cases.He would point to the excellent address delivered by the Past President (Mr. Hehner) as containing a very clear statement of the case and he (Mr. Cassal) did not need to repeat the statement. Mr. Hehner had fully prove SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. 113 in his paper how impossible it was for the Public Analysts and the Authorities concerned with the application of the Acts to hope that there would ever be a change for the better at Somerset House. Somerset House had in point of fact “the defects of its qualities,” if qualities was the right word to use. The Somerset House officials had been guilty of the much-maligned standard-fixing and that in a manner which was quite unscientific ; and most unfortunately they had committed themselves to particular positions on several questions and would have to stand or fall with them.Whether in science or in pseudo-science when a person had once committed himself to an erroneous theory or to an incorrect method it was exceedingly difficult to make him see that he was wrong and still more difficult to make him admit it. And it was also extremely difficult if not impossible to get any Govern-ment Department to admit itself to be in the wrong upon any point whatever, even if the demonstration of the fact amounted to a wdzxctio ad absurdurn I t could not do so. It was not in the character of the organism; inasmuch as it had been proved up to the hilt in the papers which had been read before the Society and elsewhere that the course adopted at Somerset House upon certain matters was altogether wrong and indeed scientifically absurd ; and as outside Somerset House, no scientific man whatever with any knowledge and experience of these matters thought for a moment that the position adopted by that Department was other than entirely untenable.The result was simply this that on the one side there were the Public Analysts protesting against the reference of samples upon portions of which they had presumably reported to officials who held views which were not scientific-which were in fact entirely erroneous; and on the other side there was a Government Department restricted and confined by views which were like the laws of the Medes and Persians and occupying a position from which they could neither draw back nor move forward The best way out of the difficulty was the one suggested in the fifth resolution-namely to relieve the officials at Somerset House from all connection with the Acts and to place the matter of reference in the hands of a new authority thoroughly acquainted with the most recent scientific facts and methods and in a position to obtain the latest information.Public authorities and Public Analysts had every right to expect these qualifications in a court of reference. He felt it incumbent upon him to state that additional difficulties had been created by a particularly unfortunate attitude on the part of the Somerset House officials. This attitude which had shown itself on various occasions appeared to consist in this that the Somerset House official laboured under the impression that as a Government official he was in every sense a very superior person; and so much had this feeling appeared to pervade the atmosphere of Somerset House that they had actually been told in public-certainly under the mellowing influence of the festive board-that as Public Analysts they had very much improved of late years ; that they had gradually in process of time and under the patriarchal education of Somerset House advanced to such a position that they were gradually beginning to see the error of their ways.No doubt many felt some joy on hearing this; for it might lead some persons to hope that under this protecting cegis poor benighted Public Analysts might ultimately be able to make as wonderful analyses and to draw from such analyses conclusions as startling as those of Somerset House.H 114 SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. believed he was right in stating that the number of samples officially analyzed at Somerset House under the Sale of Food and Drugs Act did not exceed about 40 per annum. And although he believed that recently analyses of foods and drugs had been conducted by the Department for other Government offices to say that the officials concerned possessed a tithe of the experience which would entitle them to adopt a paternal and patronizing attitude towards the general body of Public Analysts of the country had only to be stated to be refuted as ridiculous. It was, as he thought he had shown quite hopeless to expect any alteration for the better at Somerset House however willing the present officials might be to effect such an alteration and however ready any future officials might be to effect it bound down as they were and would be by the benumbing shackles of red tape and the deadweight peculiar to an old-established and somnolent Government Department.One way out of the difficulty had been shown; and without entering further into the explanations (many of which would be of a very delicate nature) that could be entered into to prove that it was highly undesirable for the officials of Somerset House to continue in their present position and for the system of reference to remain unaltered he trusted that he had said enough and that he had said it without being in any way offensive to show the importance of providing the Somerset House officials with a golden bridge over which they might pass quietly and gently, and whereby they might gracefully and completely sever their connection with the Adulteration Acts.The resolution was carried unanimously. The seventh resolution was as follows : “That the compulsory combinations of the two offices of Medical Officer and Public Analyst are in the public interest undesirable.” Dr. Alfred Ashby (Reading) said that he did not know why he had been asked to second the resolution unless it was that he was one of the sinners who held the combined appointments of Medical Officer of Health aad Public Analyst. I n the first place he would say that he understood the resolution to imply not absolutely that the two appointments should not be held in exceptional cases by one and the same person-for if that were so the profession might be the poorer by the loss of such men as Dr.Adams and one or two others who had largely contributed to analytical work-but that the holding of the two appointments by one person was, as a rule undesirable and was necessarily becoming more so every day. The training of the medical man and the chemist were so widely different that it by no means followed that because a man was fit for the post of Medical Officer of Health he was also fit to hold the office of Public Analyst. Indeed quite the contrary was the case. The smattering of analytical knowledge required to obtain a diploma in Public Health in no way qualified the holder as a Public Analyst.I t was often thought by Local Authorities that the holder of such a diploma was fit to be a full-fledged Public Analyst. It was lamentable to think how low the Public Analyst had fallen in the estimation of some Local Authorities. He had heard of a case of the Medical Officer of a large borough being offered the appointment of Public Analyst for 3% a year and this was, Nothing. could be more absurd SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. 115 indeed bringing the 06ce of Public Analyst into contempt. With such appointments, the very large body of honourable traders who were to be found in all parts of the country must necessarily suffer for the thoroughly efficient Public Analyst was their greatest friend. He was of opinion that no local .authority should make it compulsory for the appointments to be held by the same man-no one should be placed in the false position of being Public Analyst if he was not fitted for the ofice but if a Medical Oflicer of Health happened to be an efficient chemist the fact of his holding that appointment should not debar him from holding the office of Public Analyst.Dr. Turner said that he also had been Public Analyst and Medical Officer of Health at one and the same time. He was therefore very well able to express an opinion and he unhesitatingly condemned the practice of combining the appoint-ments. He did not think Medical Officers need object in the slightest to the office of Public Analyst being taken from them. They would find in their own special department a number of difficult problems sufficiently large to last them their lives, and they would probably leave legacies in problems if in no other way to their children.Dr. Hake thought many others would agree with hiin that under ordinary circumstances the medical student had not the opportunity of obtaining such knowledge as would fit him to undertake the duties of a Public Analyst; and he thought further that everyone present would agree that certain gentlemen who had held the dual position were gentlemen of very exceptional attainments. Some medical ’men as was well known had been brilliant exceptions as for example the late Dr. Tidy who was an admirable chemist. The resolution was then put to the meeting and carried unanimously. The last resolution read : ( ( That provision should be made to ensure better than heretofore the proper hlr.Hehner seconded the resolution and said that it was closely connected with the one just passed. When the Sale of Food and Drugs Act was passed there was no large body of men such as the Act created fully qualified to undertake the duties required under the Act and everybody who had even a slight claim to the knowledge, experience and skill which the Act required was considered fitted for an appointment. The consequence was that in the first few years there was a great deal of friction and more or less incompetence with the result that the work and the value of Public Analysts had been belittled for many years; but this had now to a great extent died out. Since that time the science of detecting adulteration had made immense progress ; nevertheless it was infinitely more difficult nowadays in spite of all the labours which Public Analysts had bestowed on the subject to come to a definite conclusion as to whether a sample was adulterated than it was seventeen years ago.Adulteration had now become a fine art. Analysts were also at that time very confident that they could analyze all the articles submitted to them. In fact prior to the passing of the Food Act a Parliamentary Committee inquired into the means which were available to put an Adulteration Act into operation. Chemists gave qualification of officers under the Act. 116 SUPPLEMENT TO THE ANALYST. evidence before the Committee to the effect that there was no scientific difliculty whatever. If analysts were asked now if there were any difficulties they would say that there were and great ones.At that time it rested with the Local Authority to say whether a man had the requisite knowledge and this was still the case. I n fact, the vestries and councils were actually made the judges of the capabilities of a man, though they had not the least idea what was required. Every man who had studied chemistry even in a hospital was taken to be as a matter of course a fit and proper person to undertake the duties required by the Act. But in reality to become an efficient Public Analyst he must have not only a certain amount of knowledge but wide experience which could only be gained by years of work in a proper laboratory. It was thought by the Council of the Society of Public Analysts that the time had long ago come when the councils and vestries should no longer have the responsi-bility of appointing Public Analysts without having reliable evidence which they could understand before them.At present Local Authorities had a number of applications submitted to them and the only means of guidance afforded was by the very objectionable means of testimonials. He had seen testimonials given by parsons who could not possibly be judges of the needful qualifications from which no opinion whatever could be formed of the qualifications of a man. The consequence was that, in some districts-and especially in those where the Act was not worked-men had been appointed who were not fit for the post and who certainly did not add to the dignity of the profession.I t was essential that the electing body should know that the man they elected was as well qualified as the Medical Officer of Health and other professional officers employed by it. Therefore he was strongly of opinion that the next Act should embody a clause to ensure that a Public Analyst was as qualified for his work as a Medical Officer of Health was for his. How that was to be done he would not enter into. Two Chemical Associations in this country were moving to ensure the proper qualification of their members. The Institute of Chemistry was doing so from the point of view of general qualification and he might say that the Council of the Society of Public Analysts as the only body of professional analytical chemists in England had had under consideration and had adopted in principle a scheme for instituting examinations with a view to secure the efficacy of candidates aspiring to the office of Public Analyst especially. The resolution was then put to the meeting and carried unanimously. The Chairman said that the Society of Public Analysts although numerically small was highly representative as it practically included all the Public Analysts of England; and feeling as the Council did that the subjects set down for discussion were of very high importance-more to the outside public and the traders than to themselves professionally-they deemed it desirable that strangers should be invited -Members of Parliament and those who dealt in food and drugs as a business in order that they might have the benefit of their assistance in the deliberations. He had already welcomed them in the name of the Society and now he thanked them for their presence and the part they had taken in the discussion. A vote of thanks to the Chairman moved by Dr. C. R. Alder Wright and seconded by the Hon. Alan de Tatton Egerton M.P. concluded the business of the meeting

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8931800097

出版商:RSC    

年代:1893

数据来源: RSC