摘要:

THE ANALY AUGUST, 1884. s T e PROCEEDINGS OF TEE SOCIETY OF PUBLIC ANALYSTS. THE country meeting of the Society was held on Saturday, August 16th, at the Royal Eotel, Matlock Bath. The Becretaries regretted to say that, owing t o illness, their President, M i . Wiper, waa unable to be with them, a communication which was received with general regret. In the abaence of either of the Vice-PresidentB, Dr. Charles A. Cameron, of Dublin, past Vice-President, took the chair. A letter was received from Mr. A. EI. Allen, P.C.S., F.I.C., giving a summary of the paper announced for the meeting on the “Keeping of Milk Barnplea.” The mode of keeping suggested by the author consisted mainly in the addition of a known pro- portion of alcohol to the fresh sample. Mr. Allen’s letter stated thaG, as he was just leaving for Canada, he waa unable to be present, and expressed regret that time had not allowed of his writing his paper out in time for the meeting.As soon as the paper is received from Mr, Allen it will be publiahed in the Elociety’s proceedings. Considerable dimmasion followed, in which Messrs. Baynes, Carter Bell, Icingzett, Wilkinson, Eatcourt, Smethtxm, Hehner, and Dyer took part. Among the criticisms evolved by the summary of the paper, was a fear lest the volatility of tho preservative re-agent suggested might sometimes vitiate the results. Mr. H, W. Lake, assistant to Mr. F. W. Toms, was elected an Associate of the Sooiety, and Mr, Prank Scuddex was proposed as a member. A vote of thanks was passed to Dr. Cameron €or acting ap~ Chairman. After the meeting the members dined together and passed a very pleasant evening, R considerable number of thorn staying at Matlock fur a few days, and making some very euj oyable excumions to Dovedale and other places in the neighbourhood. Before the meeting separated, it Was unanimously resolved, on the auggeation of Dr, Camoron, to hold next year’s country meeting o€ the Bociety in Dublin.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8840900153

出版商:RSC    

年代:1884

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

164 THE ANALYST. PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONFERENCE, ON FOOD ADULTERATION AND ANALYSIS, HELD AT TEE INTERNATIONA,L ElEALTH EXHIBITION.- SECOND DAY. Mr. GROVBS, the Secretary, here read the following communication from Mr. BANNISTER:- Dr. Dupr6 and other analysts, who spoke yesterday, attempted to draw a great distinction between the limit of the public analyst and that of Somerset House. In this statement the fact is quite overlooked, that the methods of analysis are not the same, and, therefore, that the results are not accordant ; the method of ascertaining the amount of solids not fat, laid down by the public analyst, is to dry the residue for tihree hours, and then calculate the proportion. In our laboratory (that is, the laboratory of Somerset House), the solids not fatty are dried until the weight is constant, andfromexperienceweknowthat &5 of solids obtained by our way, are equal to 9 in the way followed by the public analyst.Many of them are alive to the unsatisfactory manner of the public analyst’s method, and Mr. Hehner says that much more concordant results are obtained by our way as compared with the method of drying for three hours. It has been said, that the result of our method is to lower the limit to 8‘6 per cent,, but it is not a lowering of the standard, but only a difference in the methods of working, and it is unfair to attempt to induce the public to believe otherwise, simply because we work in a way which gives constant results ; we gave the three hours’ method a good trial, but abandoned it many years ago.With regard to the assumption that milk varies in composition, it is pleasing to know that this fact is now conceded, for I remember very well when many analysts held that milk only varied according to different cows, and that it was childish to suppose that any cow gave below the minimum. In considering this Act you must bear in mind what was the distinct intention of the legislature, and this intention is still expressed by the Select Committee of 1874, which says, too high and ‘‘ rigid a standard has been fixed by some analysts, and no SnfEiOient allowance has been made for some natural variations in milk ; 10 per oent. of milk solids may be more difficult to obtain under some conditions than 12 or 14 per cent. under more favourable conditions. Allowance Bhould, therefore, be made for these actual variations, which some purely scientific chemists seem to have overlooked.” It is evident from this that the legislature could not agree with the views of the analysts, and it is equally evident to me, that if some stringent regulations are to be enforced, we must get further powers under the Adulteration Act.The SECRETARY also read the following communication from Dr. WALLACE :- With regard to the possibility of having a standard, I think it would ao very well to have a standard not too low, say 8.6 per cent. of solids not fatty, and 2% fat, or 8.76 and 2.76, and that in any case when the quantities came below these standards, the milkman should have the opportunity of proving his innocence by having the cow milked in the presence of the analyst. In the case of a man having a dozen cows, it should be no defence that one of his cows gave milk of unusually low quality ; in any new Act both ought to be considered.The analyst should be paid not by fees, but by fixed salary, at not less than dG1 per 1,000 of the population, and not fewer than 1 sample for every 500 inhabitants. There should also be a provision for employing an under-inspector, working in his everyday apparel, because it is usual to take samples by employing inspectors who are frequently police-sergeants, and who, at all events, are well-known to the dairymen and shopkeepers, which of course results in good samples. Nr. BARHAM : I am not used to speaking from a public platform, and I must, therefore, claim your indulgence.I am sure we were very much delighted yesterday, and very much instructed by Dr. Bell’s very able paper. I take it that, at an International Health Exhibition a discussion as to the Adulteration Act is of the very first importance, and it is very pleasant to see so many public analysts present, but I must say I see with regret that the other side are not present, I take it what we want is not to hear one man’s ideas, but to endeavour as far as we are able, to insure a supply of pure food to the inhabitants of this country. Now, I think that instead of public analysts Betting themselves apart from the traders, and looking upon them as a separate class, they would do better to call the traders in, and to tell them how to assist them in carrying this Act into force.I may say, that I had no wish to intrude myself upon you to-day, but a friend had left my name, and requestedme to address you, and perhaps having given evidence before the Royal Commission, some seven or eight years ago, and as representing some 800 dairy farmers, and being deputed by the metropolitan dairy farmers, I have perhaps some right in appearing here. 1 think I ought to say a t fiat, that I have the greatest respect for public analysts 1 buc I dare say all will admit, that just as there are dairy farmers and dairy farmers, so there are public analysts and public analysts, Those gentlemen who are members of the Society of Public Analysts know very much better where to draw the definition than I do. Now, Professor de Chaumont, yesterday, spoke about commercial morality, and he said we should never ge* rid of adulteration until the scale of public morality was higher, Now, as a dairyman, I think that some years ago trade was conducted by barter-it was before my time I admit, but still it existed, and then people bartered one artide for another, and both were satisfied.Now, I ask you, Why should I sell my milk without water when beer has 50 per cent. or more 2 What as to drugs, about which, I confess, I am anything but sure ? What about the lawyers, do they skim their milk, or rather, don’t they cream it regularly once in a while? If I go into a horse repository and buy a horse, is the horse-dealer prosecuted if I am foolish enough to pay a big price for a horse which isn’t worth a pound for each leg he stands upon ?--no, if I know so little about it and get hold of a spavined old animal,THE AXALYST.155 -- -._ - ~ I have myself to thank ; and yet they say that many dairymen are worse than horse-dealers. Then I go into a furniture shop-if I ask, Is this real Spanish mahogany ? 6c Oh yes, sir,” says the furniture dealer, “ the finest mahogany ever brought into the country, I can guarantee it ; ’’ but it is Honduras, it is veneer, and yet no one would think of prosecuting the f urniture-dealer. If I go into a linendraper’s, the cloth I look at is warranted the best Welsh flannel, but it turns out to be half cotton. What can I do 2 can 1 have it analysed, and proceed against the linendraper for adulterating his cloth 1 No, it is absurd on the face of it. Then, are dairymen to be the only pure people in the world? I don’t see why they should be the scapegoats of the community.Now, I should like Dr. Voelcker to be apprenticed to R dairyman-I won’t say for seven years, for he would probably commit suicide before then: but only for seven weeks, and try ta get off the cream during the strawberry season t o which allusion has been made, and see if it is possible, and still keep the milk. Then with reference to the boracic acid and bisulphate of lime, it was a question whether that 9should be permitted or whether it ought to be forbidden-perhaps you will value my opinion for what it is worth, and I say emphatically, that it should be forbidden. I have no right to have my children dosed with boracic acid to save the dairyman a few quarts of milk ; no doubt it would entail a certain amount of waste, but the public must, I suppose, pay for it in the shape of increased price for the article, I will not be personal baay, but were I inclined to be so, I should take exception to a public analyst writing sensational articles to papers, saying that milk bought by this official was very generally adulterated, and then writing a testimonial to a particular dairg-farm, saying their milk was uniformly of good quality-indeed, all that could be desired.I think, if I belonged to a body of public analysts, this state of things should not be permitted to exist. Now, Dr. Dupr6 who spoke yesterday, spoke with reference to the adulteration of milk, and as to the quantity of water he found in the Sunday morning samples ; but he named his own remedy ; he said, when the inspectors had been round one Sunday, the Sunday following all the samples were excellent; he need, therefore, only send an inspector round once a fortnight, and Sunday adulteration will be a thing of the past.Mr. Hehner said that the Adulteration Act had worked great benefit generally, and that whereas milk used to be adulterated to the extent of 60 per cent. or more of water, that he really now only found 20 per cent., and frequently only 10 ; but what did Nr. Yigner say 1 he said it had increased instead of diminished during the last few years, I am sorry he is absent, for he might have explained the difference of opinion; but, however, I will take what he says, I do not see why what he said should not be accepted as true, and he said the percentage had increased during the last five years.The only inference that I can draw is, that the analysts and inspectors are;no earthly use, and that we should be better without them altogether. Well, then, some gentleman, whose name I forget, referred to the Paris arrangement, It has often been said that we English are, more than others, anxious and willing $0 disparage ourselves, and to say, Oh, these things are done much better abroad. I heard the Secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society say the other day, that he wouqd not drink half a pint of English milk, or allow half a pound of English butter to be brought into his house, because he found all these things so-much better managed abroad. Now, is this true ? and, in any oase, I must say 1 think it is an extraordinary assertion on the part of the Secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society, He said it in very good faith no doubt.and if so. why is it 1 Why. because he went abroad as the Secretary of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and of course everything was got ready in consequence; he was taken t o model farms, and tasted model products, just the same as we should do if we received a letter to say the Secretary of a French Agricultural Society was coming to visit us. Well, now, I have made the supply of milk to Paris my study, in and all round Paris, and I have seen the whole process from beginning to end. I peeped in at every stage of the process; I don% know whether I asked too many questions, or whethey they thought that I wanted to know too much ; but at last I had the door shut, so to speak, in my face.Now, the milk there is boiled-it is cooked milk;, the cow is milked over night and the milk is boiled ; it is mixed with the next morning’s milk, and off the mixture goes to the market, for there is only one delivery of milk in Paris per day, and not two as you have in London-a double service. The consequence is that in the hot weather, after 1 or 2 o’olock, not a drop of fresh milk is t o be had. One day I went round to twenty or thirty milk dealers in company with a friend, who spoke Parisian French, and tried to get some fresh milk, saying it was for a sick baby, and not a drop could I get. They said, well, it is not quite fresh, it is beginning to turn, but they offered me some bicarbonate of soda to sweeten it with, and that is all I could get for my alleged sick baby; it is dreadful 1 And yet the Paris supply of milk is said to be so much ahead of ours.Depend upon it there is no city in the world where the milk supply is so abundant and so good as in London-my remarks are not alone applicable to Paris, I have studied this question in many cities abroad. I repeat, without fear of contradiction, that nowhere is the service so well organised as here. Now, as to the standards, I was very pleased to hear Dr. Muter’s speech on this subject. Now, what is my idea ? certainly I would stop water being added to milk, not a single drop would I allow ; but this is my difficult point, and this is what I cannot reconcile with my morality, khat an analyst goes into court and swears that a given ‘specimen of milk contains so much water-has he found the water 1 No, he has only found the solids remaining after all the water has been evaporated, and he goes deliberately and swears that he finds a certain amount of water.Dear me 1 Where did he h d it ? It may be a correct inference, but it is only an inference ; that is a point which I strongly object to. Another gentleman compared dairymen to pickpockets, and said that there were some dairymen who would scorn t o put their hands into your pockets and take out sixpence ; but this is the offenae an analyst canvicts a man of when he charges him with watering his milk. A man who1 ti6 THE ANALYST, waters his milk is as bad as the man who puts stones in his coals, ar any other form of fraud ; it is a very grave offence.You know that Shakespeare says- u He who takes my purse, takes trash ; But he who robs me of my good name Takes something which enriches not himself, And makes me poor indeed; ’’ and I can assure you many traders fall under that impression, and great bitterness of heart is the result ; and I think great care should be exercised before a possibly innocent man is convicted of such an offence. Now that is what I want analysts to do, By-the-bye, some years ago, when the first Act was brought in, our Societyinvited the Societyof Public Analysts to meet us and work up to a standard with us ; but this they declined. What we want them to do is to give us a right means of detecting added water ; we want something to do that, and if they will give us that you will do more to stop adulteration than all the fines in the world.Now, as regards working up to the standard, aa we have heard nearly twelve analysts and only one dairyman, perhaps I may venture to take up this point, although 1 have already taken up a good deal of your time and attention, Now, you must know that the cow has often been called a machine for making milk, but, unfortumtely, we cannot control her as we should control a steam-engine ; we cannot turn on the steam just as we want to ; and with the best food the same cow may produce a certain class of milk; we sell that milk and we are convicted of adding water to the milk. Well, now, with reference to when you send in the certificate of adulteration : well, what do you do ? You take, I will suppose, your standard of non-fatty solids at 9, and a t that point you do not give a certificate of adulteration, but if it should come down to 8.6 or even 8.76, what do you do 1 do you say that the difference between 8.7 and 9 represents the amount of adulteration 1 No ; you take 9.3 as the standard, you raise your limit, and you say there is so much water, not the original difference, but the difference between the actual and the raised standards. Now, is that right or proper ? Very well now, there is suoh a thing as a Dairy Show held in London every year, and, perhaps, one of the most useful classes is the class for the milk prize, Now, that prize is given to the owner of the cows who give the most milk of the best quality, allowing for the time since calving-it is the duty of every proprietor of a cow to feed his cow, as well as ever he can, so as to get the most and the best milk.Well, I don’t know whether you gentlemen read anything besides THE ANALYST or not, but if you read the reports of the Dairy Farmers’ Association you will find these figures you will find in the breed of shorthorns-and these figures are taken by five judges, so there can be no doubt arc to their accuracy and impartiality-now, the non-fatty solids were 8.8, These were the shorthorn breed, in good condition, well fed-not one of those a gentleman said was to be taken to the knaoker’s yard, I imagine; the fat was 4 per cent. The next cow gave 8*8 non-fatty, and 3.7 fatty solids ; the next, non-fatty 804, fatty 4 ; the next, 8.8 non-fatty, and 3.1 fatty; another, 8.4 non-fatty, and 8 1 fatty ; but we got one where the non-fatty solids were only 7.8-a healthy cow, well fed, and in the best possible con- dition, gave the fat 3.4 per cent.and non-fatty as 7 8 per cent. Now, of twenty-three cow8 of this breed, twelve gave less than 9 per cent. of non-fatty solids, the average 8 9 of non-fatty, and 3-7 of fatty solids : why, the milk of half these cows would have been condemned by an analyst I Now, for the Jerseys ; these cows give the riohest milk in the world, and yet one gave 8.8, another 8.6, and another 8 of non-fatty solids ; this is four out of twenty whose milk would have passed for being adulterated with water. I will not trouble you any further with this, except to say of the Dutch cows here, their average of all the cows is 11.8, and the fat is very near 8, so that the average of allof them is less than 9 per cent.Well, now, I will tell you the remedy apart from analysis-a remedy which will give you pure milk independently of public analysts. Give orders in your house never to pay less than fivepence a quart for ,pour milk ; you milk dealer will not cheat you, he won’t water Ms milk, he will tremble at the idea of losing your custom. NOW, if we were working like the brewers, if our results were to be obtained a3 Dr. Richardson once said, 66 that drawing milk was a barbarism, that we ought to mix it in its component parts a t the chemist’s,” then I acknowledge that the position would be different ; when we can prepare milk like that then we can give you any standard you like to ask.Well now, is it at all likely that you would go into a butcher’s shop and say you wanted a joint of meat with a certain percentage of fatty and non-fat@ constituents, and would you be likely to get it 1 and yet milk is always to have a certain amount of solids. It is allmost impossible to do this, unless you make your standard sufficiently low, and I think that Is really what you ought to do, and then leave people to rely upon tibe reputation of the firm they deal with as to the quality of the milk above that standard. Well now, with regard to butter fats-well, that is very difflcult ; if you ask me what you ought to have I will readily agree with you a t 3 per cent. : but I say this, that if you insist upon having 3 per cent, there is not a firm who will not be fined sooner or later, You know that alteration is constantly going on in milk ; it is not still five minutes ; you know perfectly well that the oonstituents change rapidly, and that to-morrow morning the lighter portions will be on the top and the heavier at the bottom ; why, the change is going on not only in the shop but in the cow’s very udder 1 What is the result if you take too high a line ? Some Sunday morning when Dr.Dupre’s man is out (Dr. Dupe rose to protest against any suggestion that the inspectors were acting under his direction)-when his, the dairy- keeper’s, mail has over-slept himself, and, instead of properly milking his cow, he scamps it; and this is obviously not to the advantage of the dairykeepr-who is probably also in bed, being Sunday morning-and not having the right quantity of milk, he brings it up to it by means of the pump, and his employer is fined,THE ANALYST.157 Then, again, when the milk comes by rail some hundreds of miles, of course, a cerfaia amount of churning goes on; everybody has seen that. I have frequently seen the globules of fat floating on the top on the arrival of the cans, and in this way Q per cent, may easily be lost ; and when the milk stands in the shop the cream collects on the top; if the inspector comes in early he gets a good specimen, and then he says, of course, we knew he was coming, and perhaps a month after he goes in later and gets a bad specimen from the bottom of the can. Well now, as to alterations in the Act, I certainly should like the Acts aitered myself.What will I suggest 1 Well, we are at a good deal of trouble : dairymen are not orators, and cannot speak at public meetings, and the consequence is, they have a good many things said against them which they do not deserve ; but two or three years ago they asked the House that the Adulteration Act should be altered, and, oxtraordinary to say, it was altered : a little Act was brought forward saying that the milk should be sampled at the railway stations (clause 3, chapter 30), and it gave power to the inspectors to go to the stations to take samples of the milk. Well, I don’t think it is carried out in three stations in London (Dr, Muter rose to state that it was carried out ip Lambeth). Then, clause 14 of the previous Act, in which it says that inspectors shall ofm to divide the article into three por- tions.We think this should be altered into, “the inspector shall divide,” etc., for it frequently happens that a dealer, confident in his honesty, says No, I don’t want a sample ; and then he is at the mercy of the inspector. Then there is another point, and that is m.l.ttea wm~an;t.ies. We have heard that when one of these fraudulent traders says it is no fault of his, thac he sold the milk just as he received it, he is told he should buy his milk with a written warranty. Well now, you know he purchases his milk twice a day: you would think that if he agreed with a wholesale man to be supplied by him with pure milk, warranted pure for twelve months at a good price, and that under a warranty, that if the milk was found to be under the limit he could proceed against the wholesale man, but it is nothing of the kind : our judges say, You must have a warranty with every consignment. You see it is impossi- ble to do this ; no farmer is going to get up at four o’clook in the morning to sign a separate warranty for every can of milk he sends up to London, Then, again, a mention was made of the Act providing that the analysts, where the milk has undergone any change, have to make special note to that effect.Well, I think a summons ought to be issued within-say-a week, and then analysis on the other side could be conducted with some chance of getting a just idea of the actual state of the case ; but there is one thing with reference to the Adulteration Acts, and that is this, if you want the Act carried out, you must make it the people’s interest to carry it out ; there is more heart-burning over one honest man who is convicted unjustly-there is more annoyance and bitterness against the Acts among his fellow-traders, than there is in 800 just convictiorp Owing to the time gctting near when the room would be required for another conference, the president requested the gentlemen who intended to speak to restrict their remarks to ten minutes, Dr.STEVENSON : I have no intention whatever of replying to my friend, Mr. Barhm; he of course represents a large and important interest, and I have listened with the greatest respect to any- thing he had to say.I cannot help feeling, however, that if one could get at his own private opinions he would be inclined to fix a higher standard for milk than he admitted in his speech. I am rather unwilling to fix upon any absolute standard for this most important commodity. I thoroughly agreed with Dr, Muter that when a milk is rich in cream or butter fat, we must make allowance for the solids not fatty, but I must object to any such standard as that proposed by Dr. Voelcker, for although X believe our milk supply in London is much improved, it is not what it ought to be. I believe if this standard were adopted we should have a depression in the quality of our milk supply by ten or twelve per cent,, and I think that the standard should be fixed at the lowest limit compatible with natural milk of a healthy oow.There is one other point, and that is, that the analysts, speaking u before God and man,” as a certain speaker somewhat rhetorically described it, say, in their certificate, that a given specimen contains so much water : now I have signed some 10,000 certificates under the Act, and I have never signed anything of that kind. You will find that the analyst only expresses his opinion that there is so much water. I have observed that a good many of the general public are present, and 1 should like to impress upon them that we wish to have more of ‘the articles supplied to us by the general public, and I would espeoially impress upon those who are connected with public institutions-such as hospitals, infirmaries, etc., to have their milk, drugs, etc,, examined frequently.It is astonishing how few samples we get from such institutions of that sort. I have had the oppor- tunity from time to time of examining supplies from hospitals, infirmaries, etc., and I have been sur- prised to see whah adulterations in the article of drugs they get ; it is said, of course, in defence of the very inferior article supplied, that the managers contract at a figure at which the articles cannot be supplied, but it still does not exonerate the tradjer from the breaoh of commercial morality : if he contracts to supply an article at a price at which he knows it cannot be legitimately supplied, it does not justify him in passing a spurious or adulterated article. I think public analysts would do well to direct their attention to drugs.I say this because I see many reports of the pharmacists, and I can vouch for a great, many that they are supplied with all purity and precision ; but there are a certain class of men who supply medical men, hospitals, etc., at cheap rates, and with inferior articles. In one instance, a compound senna mixture-a preparation familiar to most of you, I expect, and the efficacy of which depends on sulphate of magnesia and senna, but as the first is very less expensive than the latter, the senna was conspicuous by its absence, with disastrous effects upon the aged poor and sick, for whom i t was intended, There is still one other class of adulteration to which I wish to refer, and that is the kind of fraud which lis perpetrated when articles of inferior character are sophisticated by something which gives them a good appearanoe, for instance, alum in bread j fortu-THE ANALYST.nately this is in a great measure a thing of the past, but I think I should have liked to have heard this discussed, as t o how far it is legitimate to utilize inferior articles in this way. It is well known to you, sir, that there are certain classes of food products, such as flours, which are in an unsound state, and a good sound loaf cannot be prepared from them, and yet by the addition of alum, a very good presentable loaf may be produced. My opinion is, that if we make a good loaf with the addition of alum from inferior flour, we are presenting the public with a more wholesome substance than if the alum had not been added, but this does not cover the question.If the opinion of the customer were asked about it, and his consent were obtained, I could understand the morality ; but I do not see it when the inferior article is made to look like a good article, which it is not, and the price of the better article charged for it. I repeat, I should have liked to have heard the question disoussed from this point of view, as it is one of immense importance. Mr, EASTON: I must admit that yesterday I sat like a steam-engine under pressure, and it was^ very interesting to hear the reply of Mr. Barham. I feel it an impossibility to continue a discussion which has been so exhaustively touched upon by Mr. Barham ; one point, however, he did not allude to, and that is that dairymen have no antipathy to public analysts as a class, but against certain individuals who are not quite fit for the position they occupy, whose certificates have been the means of ruining many honest traders.The statement has been made, that out of 1,000 samples certified as adulterated, only one had been lost when the certificates were brought into court. Now does it ever occur to the public how many of these cases in which convictions ensue are ever contested 1 There are hundreds of samples of milk taken from dealers, where convictions ensue, where the man does not attempt any opposition to the case-he does not take a contrary opinion, I should like to know in how many of these 1,000 cases was there any contestation. I have known cases where four per cent. of water was certified to, and on application to Somerset House, a certificate was returned different entirely from that of the analyst.A gentleman who spoke yesterday, Mr. 0. Hehner (it may possibly have been with a feeling akin to superior knowledge), stated that he had analysed more samples than Somerset House ; now is Nr. Hehner aware of the fact that Somerset House have taken 600 various samples, and yet Nr. Hehner has 6,000 samples of the same sort : have you had cows kept especially for this purpose 1 or have you been taking indiscriminately from a general source, and as a general average of analysts. It was my good fortune some two years ago to be dining with Dr. Tidy, and upon that occasion Dr. Tidy was rather Vicious against a large number of medical men who assembled a t that banquet. He said, the poor you have always with you, and so have you the doctors ; and he went on to say that the ills of men were mainly imaginary, and so long as they continued to exist the medical man would thrive ; but I do not imagine the truth of the inference.As to the statement that the adulteration of milk has dropped from fifty per cent., the Adulteration Act only having been in force since 1872, it is quite within the limits of possibility that within a few years adulteration itself may come to an end, and then I hope me.shall dispense with the public analysts. Mr. HELM ; In the course of the speeches of yesterday a very serious charge was made against Dr. Bell and his colleagues in their capacity of referees. Two gentlemen in a very high position as public analysts made a very serious charge for adopting the standard they had at Somerset House, and that they had taken diseased or improperly fed cows to judge from ; but what in the world could be the motive for doing anything of the sort? and they did nothing of the kind-they sought all round London, and even as far away as Somerset and Derby, to get fair samples, These two gentlemen told you that the limits adopted by the Society of Public Analysts were 9 per cent, non-fatty and 2 6 fatty, but today I have been perfectly bewildered by the figures brought forward by different speakers, for the past President of the Society has said he would pass milk at 8% per cent.; but because we at Somerset House have agreed to pass it at 8‘6 per cent. we are told our cows are ill ! Well, now, as Mr.Barham has said, it is not usual to accept bad or diseased cows at Dairy Shows, but these cows have given Dr. ‘Dupr6 another grievance. Dr. Dupr6 has abused the authorities at Somerset House on the ground of the lowness of their standards, and says they have lowered the standard of milk by taking too low a standard. Yesterday Dr. Dupr6 was rather more moderate, and said that occasionally a single cow might give below 9 per cent., but a whole dairy never. Well, now, I have the results pointed out by Mr. Barham of these cows’ milks, and accepted a t Islington, which were not analysed at Somerset House but by Professor Voelcker, that out of a total of 79 COWS 33 gave below the standard, and that out of 23 short-horns 13 have the audacity to give below the Society’s limits, of the Jerseys 3, andiout of the Guernseys 4, and out of 6 Dutch cows 4 were below ; and as to the fact of a dairy never coming below, the mixed milk of the entire lot would be pronounced adulterated according to their standard-so much for these cows.Well, what do we do we send round inspectors, and out of 238 samples 134 were adulterated according to the Society’s standards, How then, in all reason, could we adopt it standard of that .kind? out of four dairies 3 came below the Society’s standard. NOW these gentlemen, at a recent case at Nanchester, have told US they always report a sample below 9 per cent. What must we think then of Dr. Muter, who will pass milk at 8’5 per cent. if the fat be good? and Dr. Stevenson, if he does the same thing ? Well, sir, the time is very limited, and I know Dr.Bell will reply to many of the statements which have been made, and I am sorry I have not the opportunity of making this mention yesterday, Well, now, you all noticed that Dr. Bell very studiously avoided anything which might bring him into collision with the public analyst, but Dr. Dupre stated that he was glad to air his grievance against Somerset House, and I can assure you Somerset House is equally glad to have the opportunity of explaining themselves. The paper of Mr. Bannister took away part of what 1 intended t o say vith regard to it, but you all know thst the Society of Public Analyst5 adopted their standard on aTEE ANALYST. 159 ~ ~-~~ ~ ~~~ basis suggested by Mr.Wanklyn, that was to dry the milk for three hours, take the fat out of it, and the difference was the non-fatty solids. Of course, if you leave any water in the milk it swells the amount of the non-fatty solids, and it has been shown that by drying the non-fatty solids to dryness, that is until the result is constant, 8.8 per cent, is equal to 9, which is the standard adopted by the public analyst. Why, then, are our cows diseased, if our 8.5 per cent. is equal to Four 9 per cent. ? Well, now, coming to what can be done to make the Act more effective, we are all agreed, for we all agree to get the best article we can, we have a bias against fraud, and we have been trying all we can do to get a utandard. I can tell you there is no work which causes us so much anxiety at Somerset House as one of those referred certificates. 1 can assure you it is quite a cloud off Dr.Bell’s head when the oertifioate can be approved, First, the Act is very inefficiently worked throughout the country, and I should be very glad t o see some means of getting it more effectually carried out. Dr. Muter has suggested that an inspeotor should be compulsorily appointed, and a very fair number of samples purchased; but what is the use of compelling a man to purchase samples if he does it in a police- man’s uniform ? I think something further is required, and that the Local Government Board, where they suspect that the Act is not properly worked, ought to work it themselves in one way or another; but unless local tradesmen and local councils can be overridden in some respect, I fear the Act will never be thoroughly efflcient.Mr. ANGELL : I think the position I stand in here is unique, because it is the Erst time that a public analyst has had the opportunity of speaking in just such:a meeting as this. For the first time we have the representatives of the upper house who have come down amongst us-the gentlemen in power and authority set over us as referees, I my we haveznever had an opportunity of speaking before these gentlemen, and it was one of our first grievances that we could never approach them. Now the day has come, and we are exceedingly glad to have met face to face with them, and with those people who regard public analysts as people to be objected to. Now for the remarks of a gentleman who spoke on behalf of the dairymen ; he made a brilliant and interesting speech, but he spoke of it as though it were a game with two sides, and then he seemed to try t o prove that two blacks were white.After that, some misunderstanding on his part was made with regard to what was said yesterday, He seems to have got mixed up between a statement made by one gentleman that the percentage of cases of milk adulteration had increased, and the statement of the other gentlemen that the proportion of added water had decreased. This mme gentleman told us something about the fact that we could not tell added water from other water. Now, it makes me think of one instance which has occurred to me when I was lecturing to the Botley Agricultural Association, and after some pains to show them why we should believe in a comparative standard of such a supply as milk ; that nature, if she gives the animal this secretion for the nourishment qf the young, it would, from the most abstract point of view, be expected to be somewhat constant, a6d also attempted to prove it to be the case by experiment. Now, after all my pains, one of the farmers present got up and said : “Now, just look here, Mr.,,Angell ; I have listened to you and all that, but can you distinguish the added water from the other 1 Of course I admitted I could not. (6 \Vel$” said the farmer, (‘ then you can sit down, for if you can% do that you are not; much good anyway.And we were told much the same thing to-day. Milk ‘takes up a good deal of our time now, and it is not aItogether undesirable that it should be so, seeing the great importance of the subject.Turning for a moment as t o beer. It was said by one speaker yesterday that there is a very great difflculty in establishing the composition of what is sold to US as beer. It frequently happens to US in my district that question arises as to the quality of the beer which is sold, and they send me a great number of samples, but owing to the fact that there is no absolute criterion we are obliged to certify that they are sound,unless we find something deleterious. Now, I see a way out of this difficulty; all the multifarious compounds of sugar, and more or less edible bitters, should be sold under the name of Ale ; but if a man mks for a glass of Beer he should have nothing else : a product of malt, flavoured with hops, Let a2e be anything wholesome in the shape of what is now known as beer, and the word Zmr be restricted, as I have said, to a product of malt and hops alone, This would meet the difficulty, and I don’t see that it would interfere with the trade at all.Yesterday, Professor Attfield was clevei enough to give us some very astounding allegations, but I regret to see he is absent to-day, though I asked him to be present. For that reason I shall not go so indignantly to work as I had intended; but I think when such statements are made they should be made with very great caution. The very first thing he said was to give you a caution that you should not be led away by exparte statements, but I claim for public analysts a very much more independent position than that of Professor Attfield in connection with the prosecutions.In several of these cases which he quoted I was the analyst, and I ask you which of the two is likely to make an ex parts statement-myself, or the man who is intimately connected with a very powerful Trade Union-which comes down with counsel and chemical adviser, and that adviser it is an open secret is the man in question 1 They bring down parts of pharmacopceias, and strive to prove their case from one or other of them, and if by means of a quotation from some antiquated, worm-eaten old pharmacopeia, they can manage to elicit something in their favour they exult, and would scek to convey the impression that when a case is dismissed you must look upon it as though an error on the part of the analyst had been detected.There are such things as differences in opinion, and therefore it is objectionable ,we should speak of the andyst’s certificates being dismissed when, if we should inquire into the matter, it would prove to be something outside of, and independent of it. I will say in aonclusion, with regard to Professor Attfield’s statement, that I was160 THE ANALYST. about to refer to certain special cases where he is known to have said that citrate of magnesia need contain no citric acid and no magnesia ; and in one case where, by a process best known to himself, he really found a very faint trace of soda carbonate in the bulk of sulphate of lime-a process by the way which he has kept secret to the present time; but in his absenae I rJhall not go into these matters .Dr. REDWOOD : I may say in tbe first place that I have listened with very considerable interest to the discussion which has taken place here to-day, and that the effect of what has been stated by some of the gentlemen who have appeared here has rendered unnecessary my saying much upon the subject. At first the observations made by Dr. Muter I must entirely and completely agree with, and I may say also with reference to the very spirited and talented remarks which have been made by Mr, Barham, that I feel quite sure you will all have been greatly delighted in having had the opportunity of hearing the very able defence on behalf of the dairymen. Now, there are just two points I intended to refer to-two points which have not been so thoroughly disposed of, which I wish to make a few remarks upon ; the first, with reference to the statement which was made yesterday to the effect that the AduIteration Act has not accomplished all that was anticipated from it, or even much that could be satisfactorily referred to it, especially because it is found on reference to statistias that the proportion of adulterated articles still continues t o be so much what they were in the first instance.Now, that is an argument which will have, I conceive, weight with many persons, unless some mutual explanation is given as to the cause of that persistency in the percentage of adulterated articles appearing on the annual reports. It appears to me that that has arisen mostly from the circumstance that a very considerable change has taken place in the nature of the substances collected by inspectors for analysis recently, as compared with what was the case some years ago.I have been a public analyst almost from the commencement of these operations, and I have had a very considerable experience, being the analyst for the metropolitan county and for many of the large districts, and I can say from my experience that when we began this work the inspectors were in the habit of collecting a very large number of samples of different kinds and of different materials, which were submitted to analysis, and that in the process of time it was ascertained by these inspectors and others that a large number of the substances which they had been in the habit of collecting never practically were found t o be adulterated.Latterly the inspectors have confined themselves within my experience to a very limited number of articles, and those me the kind of articles which are most liable to adulteration, as, for instance, milk and butter, coffee and mustard, and a few more articles of that description ; in point of fact, the very articles which are referred to by Dr. Bell in his paper are those which alone are now found to be to any general extent subjected to adulteration : and seeing that these articles are of the special nature of those liable to adulteration, it would naturally follow that the proportion of adulterated specimens among them should be in relation t o what occurred when a much larger class, a much larger number of different olssses of articles were collected, all of which were submitted to analysis, but & of which mere never found to be adulterated, It appears to me this is the principal cause of the continuance of the percentage of adulterations which is almost identical with what it was years ago.There are some other causes certainly, but not as influential as that I have mentioned. Many of the causes also of the increased high percentage of adulteration is the imperfect manner in which the Act is carried out, I can speak from my own experience within those districts where the Act has been most regularly, systematically, and consistently carried out, that there has been a very considerable reduction in the amount of adulteration. There are one or two of the metropolitan districts of which I am analyst where there has been a very marked indication of improvement in this respect, whereas in some others of which I also have experience the case has been quite otherwise.In districts, for instance, in which the inspectors only nGw and then bring samples by impulse, or when they have been accidentally prompted to bring samples, in those cases where they often remain for many months without collecting any samples at all, and the result of that is that certain traders get into a habit of supplying articles which when analysed are found to be adulterated. Now, that is one point which I wish specially to call your attention to, and another point is that referred t o by Dr. Bell at the end of his paper ; and I shall be glad to hear what he has to say in his reply on this point, namely, whether he considers that the addition of flour or starch to mustard is an adulteration, or sugar and starch to cocoa-an opinion which I myself have entertained and acted upon.I certainly consider that the substance sold to the public under the name of cocoa is well understood in this country t o be mixed with starch and sugar ; but nevertheless, if I were t o find an undue propor- tion of these materials, then I should look upon it as an adulteration, and so likewise with reference to mustard. I consider that a little flour added to the mtlstard contributes to its value, but if I found more than five or ten per cent., I should look upon i t as an adulteration. Of course I should make an exception of mustard for medicinal purposes, as this ought to be pure ; but the conclusion I have arrived at is that in the general run of mustard not much flour is added, Nr.CHESIIII~B: I had made a few notes yesterday on some points on which I wanted to speak, but the greater part have been dealt with, so I will only allude to a few of them, I will begin my remarks by saying how glad I am I came up from Bastings t o attend this conference. The first point is the question of the percentage as mentioned in Dr. Bell’s paper, It is stated that the percentage of adnlteration is probably very much higher than the Reports give, on account of the traders often bowing the inspector, especially in uniform, There is, however, the other side, as, for instance, a t Bastings, The inspector only comes where he expects to find bad specimens, and yet we only get l b per cent,, and the common way is for the public to go and tell him where the bad specimens are to be found.He employs every means for preventing anybody knowing him, I had 8 small number ofTHE kNUY8T. I61 samples from the public, but, curiously enough, in the samples from the public I never had one fhat was adulterated. Then as regards the small fines, there is just one reason why the fines are is some cases small, and that is, that they do not fa11 on the really guilty party, The retail dealer often pleads that he has sold the articles just as he bought them from the wholesale man. Then as regards understating the results, I have always made a practice only to certify to so much as I could be certain about; but there is this, if you state the amount low, the magistrates say it is very small in quantity, and perhaps there might have been a mistake.They argue that it would not have been worth the tradesman’s while to adulterate in such small quantities. I do not believe in saying anything as to the quantify, when I do I always put “about ”-as in a case last week of a sample of strawberry jam, when I certified that there was abmt 50 per cent. of apple. With regard to improvement in samples, I heard of 8, curious circumstance at Rye. It is one of those places where they never take any samples for a, long time, and then go in with P rush. I had a, letter from the Town Clerk saying some samples were to be brought especially of milk. One-half of the specimens were adulterated, and when I met the inspector who had been to take samples of butter, he said, Sir, I cannot find any butter; it is all butterine.” Then as to beer, as there is no definition, one must be very careful.I take it, beer must be a liquid which must be fermented with some Torm of starch, with the addition of a bitter. As far as the use of chemical reagents is concerned, where preservative reagents are used with a good effect, and are innocent in themselves, f pass them ; but I think there is need for a generalagreement among pnblic analysts on this head. Then as regards milk and its standards. The majority of these low standards are those realised by Dr. Voelcker, and it is clear he adopts some peculiar plan of his own. In my own case I have always dried for three hours, and in every case where it has gone below nine I have reported it, and I have never had an appeal to Somerset House.It is not very often I get a, milk which runs below nine, and it is very difficult to understand why a series of analyses by Dr. Voelcker should all come below nine, seeing that his fat is very high. Mr. LLOYD : There are very few points for me to speak upon, and I shall only point out that I think the great object of the Food and Drugs Act is to ensure health, and that the public analyst is required more t o protect the public from any ill-effects than really that the food should come up to any definite standard. That is the great difficulty I find in coming to any conclusion 2,s to standards, especially with regard to milk, because we all know that milk has proved of all articles of food the one which has brought most disease.That reminds me of a point which I think is of importance, and I have not heard it remarked upon, that there is a large amount of condensed milk being sold as milk having had water added to it, Now, if there be one practice more than another that is likely to prove detrimental, it is that the liability to disease from the addition of water is very great, even in ordinary milk, but what will happen if condensed milk is to be made up to the strength of milk and sold as such 1 If the condensed milk has been condensed with sugar this couId be detected in the solution, but if unsweetened condensed milk bo employed, I do not know any way of ascertaining the fact, nor do I know that any action could be taken on such grounds, even if proved.One of the greatest difficulties that the public have to contend against is that their food shall be pure, although the Acts exist, because every one must know who has had any experience of the matter that under the present system it is very largely a failure-namely, that the inspectors are not able to obtain adulterated samples when those adulterated samples exist. The public are open to have analyses made, but they have to pay ten shillings, and no one will pay ten shillings to ascertain whether one shiuingsworth of food which he has purchased is genuine or not. It is the State which should protect the public. Eow tha6 can best be done I am not altogether prepared to say, but the method of people writing to the inspector and telling him he has reason to suspect such and such a material obtained a t auch and such a place is the most possible one that 1 can suggest, but the public require to be educated before they will under- stand the desirability of pare food.W e cannot expect the poor &an to pay one shilling and sixpence a pound for coffee without chicory in preference to one shilling a pound with chicory, and until we can teach them this the Act will never get that public support which after all is what i t mostly needs. One remark more as regards the application of the Act t o agricultural substances, I believe that that is totally nnnecessary; the reason why the public are abIe to obtain analyses of food at the expense of the State is that the food costs comparatively little, compared with the cost of the analysis ; but this does not hold good with respect to the agricultural substances, where the purchases are made in large quantities, and, besides, every farmer belongs to a society, attached to which there is an analyst who will analyse his specimens for him at a small cost, I say the farmer is able to protect himself, which the individual ostnnot.Dr. VIETH : Almost every speaker who has addressed this meeting has taken up one question as relating to an article of food upon whioh the young par6 of the population almost entirely subsists. As I have devoted eight; years to the analysis of milk in the laboratory under my charge, where fifty or sixty mixed samples are analysed every day, I may be allowed to speak on the subject.That there are some difficulties in connection with milk analysis and milk adulteration is, I think, sufficiently proved by the animated debates which occur whenever the subject is made a matter of discussion. The variations in the natural composition, and the alterations cawed by the tendency of the fat in milk to separate out in the form of cream make it difficult to ensure the supply of an article in no way tampered with to the general public, and at the same time not to do wrong to the honest dealer and the liability to speedy decomposition very often forms a difficulty to prove and confirm an alleged adulteration.162 THE ANALYST. In the case where a sample of milk is found or suspected to be adulterated, it will be very rarely possible to compare it with a sample as it was originally.This being so, and keeping in mind that milk naturally varies to a great extent, a prosecution for adulterated milk would be a t most impossibl.% unless some standard or better limit be found ; where to fix it is another difficult question, which, 1n my opinion, cannot be solved satisfactorily, so long as milk of individual cows and dairy milk is treatedin the same manner, Milk of individual cows sometimes comes down very low as far as composition is concerned, and I can see no difficulty why dealers should not be compelled to sell a milk labelled accordingly. If the public choose to buy 5t milk which might be very rich or might be very poor, they may do so. With dairy milk, which is the mixed milk of a number of cows, the difficulty is diminished t o a great extent, Such a milk is much more uniform, although it still may vary a good deal.In the first place the specific gravity, which is so easily ascertained by the lactometer, falls always between 1029 and 1034, and if only every small milk dealer who has no other means of protecting himself, and every householder who likes to have pure milk for himself or his Off- spring, would use this instrument freely, a great deal of watered milk would be banished from the streets of London in a very short time, As it is impossible to detect adulteration in every case in this way, there will be still a great deal of the work left to the analyst. 1 have said already that in my opinion it is necessary t o fix a limit ; where to fix it is, in the first place, a question of analytical method.The total solids given, fat and solids not fat, compensate one another. a, by our method, the fat is exhausted to the last trace, the solids not fat will be proportionately low ; if, on the other hand, a particular method leaves about half one per cent. of fat in the non-fatty solids, the latter will be so much increased. How much fat or solids not fat may be expected must be found out by statistical investigation, and I think there exists plenty of material now-a-days to settle the question at once. If, say among 100 farmers, ninty-nine are able to produce a milk of a certain standard, the remaining one should be able t o do the seme; and if, through bad feeding or watering, the milk should be excluded from the market, I do not think any reasonable man could find fault with this.ln my opinion, the standard applied by the Society of Public Analysts at present is quite fair and just to both parties as far as fat solids are concerned; but with the analyticalmethods the limits for fat and solids not fat should be altered. The tendency of the fat to rise as cream must not be lost sight of, and I would think that it is only right that in the letter of thelaw milk falling below the fixed Iimit should not be returned as watered or skimmed, but as not of the nature, quality, and substance of the article demanded, and the public analyst should not be obliged to make a statement which he cannot prove, vb., that the addition or deprivation extends to so much per cent.As to the decision in case of disputed analyses, I think it is utterly impossible to put an analysis of an old and decomposed sample of milk against one made of the milk as long as it was sweet. As soon as decomposition has proceeded to a certain point, it is, in my opinion, almost waste of time to analyse it. There does not exist a general rule according to which one could calculate the progress by extent of decomposition of milk from day to day. Dr. BELL : Nay reply wiil be very short, for very few criticisms have been made upon the paper, or upon the statements made in it. First, I think, Dr. Dupr6 rather questioned the potency of fuse1 oil in whisky. I still adhere to the statement, and experience fully bears me out, I dare say we are all aware of the frequency that one hears said in Scotland, 66 You will not find a headache in a hogshead of that whisky,” because it is a pure and mature whisky ; the fusel oil has been changed into harmless ethers, Distillers might also entirely dispense with the trouble and expense of maturing spirits in bond if it were not for the deleterious character of the fusel oil, Then thenext gentleman has asked a question with reference to cocoa, for example.The only substances which are now found in cocoa are sugar and starch, and these are not considered as adulterations so long as the articles are not sold as pure. I have mentioned that they must be sold as mixed articles, Then with regard to the quantity, it is not the presence of a quantity of sugar or starch in cocoa or mustard which will constitute adulteration. This is a question for the justices.If it comes to us, we merely say how much it contains, and leave it to them to adjudicate upon the case. I think the only question really started, and upon which 1 should like to make a few remarks, is the question of milk. It seems to be a great bone of contention j and our position in reference to the questions seems to be largely misunder. stood, and I am pleased to have this opportunity of explaining my position in reference to it and to other articles. There was a paper read from Mr. Bannister, which gave a paragraph from the Report of the Committee met in 1874. Now that is the starting.point. They said that cows yield milk of different qualities, They clearly indicated that proper allowanae is sufficiently made for variations in the quality of milk.Parliament is aware of this ; they laid down no limits of quality nor any standard. They leave it to the public an$yst. Now Mr, Hehner said last evening that he sent two specimens of milk to Somerset House. They say that they cannot a@rm that water has been added, but they cannot affirm that water has not been added, and we say neither e m they ! Now if there is one thing which we value more than another, it is the principle that everybody is presumed innocent until he is proved guilty, and if there be a doubt whatsoever, the defendant bas the benefit of that doubt, I am not opposed at all to the fixing of limits of quality or standards : it is not a matter at all for me; it is a matter between the analysts and the trade. I am simply placed to do justice between the two parties, and I have no objection, provided it has been laid down legally j but I cannot lay it down, nor can the public anaIyst lay it down. We can only give an opinion, unless we come down to a very low limit; so that, as I say, we have no desire a t all that limits of quality should not be laid down. We are quite prepared to accept any limit which may be laid down, It is pretty well admitted that milk does vary very considerably in quality. I was very pleased to hear Dr, Muter state soTHE ANALYST. 163 honestly and fairly his views upon the subject, and I hope that every public analyst will follow hi in the same line. It is, I believe, the first time that a public analyst has appeared in public, and stated so clearly and honestly the case, as Dr. Muter has done to-day. I do not say that we are not prepared to say that milk with eight per cent, was adulterated if we obtained evidence from ether data which would lead us to that conclusion, but if we have not sufficient evidence from the data which we have obtained, then we cannot conscientiously pronounce it adulteration, and we give the benefit of the doubt to the defendant. I am not prepared to come down either to a low limit. I think I agree largely with a statement of Dr, Wallace, that when it comes low down, the defendant should be called upon for an explanation, and if he cannot furnish an explanation, he should be called upon to satisfy the justices that his milk is genuine ; and t h i t is the fair and proper way in which an Act of this kind should be applied to an article which varies so much in composition. The desire of the anaIysts should be to avoid the infliction of an injury to a tradesman. As Mr. Barham pointed out, it is a most serious thing for him to be convicted for his milk when he is innocent, I thank you very much for your reception of my paper, and for your kindness altogether ; and now I will propose a vote of thanks to our worthy President for the able, liberal, and fair way in which he has conducted this meeting, The success of any meeting depends upon the management of it by the chairman, and I think that on this occasion our President has managed the meeting moat successfully, and contributed largely to the success of the discussion. The motion was seconded by Dr. Nuter, and carried unanimously,

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8840900154

出版商:RSC    

年代:1884

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

THE ANALYST. 163 OLD PROCESSES OF FOOD ANALYSIS.” BY A. W. BLYTH, N.R.C.S. &V contributing a short paper on behalf of the Society of Public Analysts, with the title of b L OM Processes of Pood AlzaZysis,” I ail1 anticipate the question czGi bolzo ? by answering, that he is a poor student of science, who takes no heed of the road hewn out by his predecessor. While we extend knowledge by new departures, while we pioneer OUT path through the untravoIled forest, cutting away the undergrowth of error, the settlers who preceded us must neither be forgotten nor lightly held :- 33 must, however, be confessed that as the older methods of sophistication were primitive, coarse, and evident, so mere the methods of detection; bread mixed with lnlnps of iron, or made of rotten materials within, good without, needed not the exposition of its quality by recondite or refined processes.A full history of the older methods of assaying foods, beverages and drugs mould be neither more nor less than B history of the evolution of the chemical, physical and natural sciences, for all these aids are used by the modern analyst; the less ambitious aim I adopt of giving a brief aketch of what may be considered the more important labours of the earlier workers of -this particular field. To do this with profit;, I must at once pass over both the writers before the Christian era, and some 16 centuries after that era; the quaint conceits and theories of the herbalists, and of the alchemists, the questions so hotly debated, as to the division of substances into hot cold or ?i&t ; the sdpkw, the Mercwy and the s d t believed at one time to be the basis of all composition, must not detain us.So far anr they suggested or stimulated to experiment, they advanced knowledge, so far as they were accepted as true, they retarded knowledge. One of the earlier pioneers of analysis was the Hon. Robert Doyle; in a way he may be said to have written the first scientific treatis, the sole object of which was to make known a method af detecting adulteration. This work is entitled 61 Xcdiciw Hydv*ostatica ; or, @drostcttios apphkd to Hater& Nedica, showing haw by the weight that divers bodies used in physic have in water, we may diacover164 TEE ANALYST, whether they be genuine or adulterated,” 800 London1 690. His method is of course the one so long known termed ‘( lj”coiJc Grav&.” He showed that impure mercury sub- limate, that Roman vitriol contaminated with alum and other substances could by the method of weighing them &st in air, then in water be detected. The invention of the microscope opened the doors of a previously invisible universe, and by revealing the intimate structure of animal and vegetable tissues, and the regular and mathematical forms of crystals, gave an impetus to all sciences, and among these to the analytical.Anthony ‘van Leuwenhock an4 his contemporaries, Doctors Hooke and Eenry Powers, mere certainly the first who occupied themselves in a aystematic way with the microscopical studies. I am never wearied of insisting on the claims of Leuwenhock, the more so for he has been much neglected, and few people have even a superficial acquaintance with the works of this acute and great observer.Theine, the active principle of both tea and coffee, is said to have been discovered by a German chemist in 1820, but Leuwenhock had separated it 120 years previously, both by crystallisation from coffee infusion and by sublimation of tea leaves; hie description is not quite exact, but he has given a fair drawing of what he calls the (( minute saline particles;” all of them he says ‘( were of the same shape, and long and pointed at the ends.” He, how- ever, was not aware that the crystalline principle of tea and coffee were identical. ‘‘ 1 afterwards endeavoured,” he goes on to say, ( I to discover, if possible, how many Baline particles could he produced from a single leaf of tea, but having reckoned up only a part of the volatile salts contained in on0 leaf 1 forbore any further observations because the number I had already reckoned up was so great that I dared not publish it, as I had proposed to do ; and, indeed, many persons could not believe that the leaf itself could be divided into so many parts, visible by the microsoope, as I aaw volatile aaline parti- cles produccd from.one single loaf,” Leuwenhock also discovered piperine, the crystalline principle in pepper, he distilled pepper and considered that the difference between white and black was that the one was decorticated, the other not, and proved that he was right by direct experiment. He noticod that vinegar could be neutralised by chalk, and described the vinegar eel, The miscroscopical chamcterfl of milk did not escape him, he mid that it was a fluid containing many globules, some of these mere of a buttery nature, and rise to the top, others sunk to the bottom and wore of a different composition.In England Dr. Henry Power and Dr. Hooke were working in the same direction ; they both investigated the minute structure of a number of plants, and Dr. Power pub- lished observations, directly bearing on the detection of adulteration by the microscope, aa for example when ha states how easy it is to observe the mercurial and other sub- stances in compound powders. Food analysis is now seldom performed qualitatively only, but also quantitatively, and the first; attempt at the quantitative analpiis of the more important foods was made in the 18th century.The general process by the school of Boerhave in use was distillation, and all thiugs possible of distillation were submitted to that process,TEE ANALYST. 165 If an 18th century chemist mere by some undiscovered art resuscitated, placed in his old primitive laboratory, and asked to analyse a sample of milk, Be would act as follows:-Some large quantity, many pounds, would be weighed in what we should call a common coarse balance ; he would next take from its special stand with loving care a thick large fantasticallyshaped retort, and place the milk therein ; he then would set it over a furnace, lit by a fire either of charcoal or ordinary materials, he would sit down and match it, keeping the heat as low, and the distillation as slow as possible ; it would take a long time ; was not Voltelenus thirteen days distilling one sample of milk, when the retort cracked and spoilt his labours 3 day by day, with incredible patience, our resuscitated chemist mould sit by his retort and watch (‘ the spirit,” as most volatile condensable matters were called, and when no more moisture could be detected- ho would urge the fire, carbonise the residue, even unto a caput mortzczcm, and lixiviate any s d t s it might contain with water, LastIy this solution would be concentratod and allowed to cry st’allise.Geoffrey, in 1737, made what I believe is the first quantitative analysis of milk, he took 12 lbs,, or about 190 times as much as a modern analyst would use, the milk was coagulated by gentle heating, the coagulum was separated and weighed, and found to be 20 per cont of the original quantity, the serum was evaporated down, rtnd its weight equalled 5.2 per cent.; he carbonised this residue, obtained a caput mortuum and lixiviated certain salts, of these quantitative determinations the solid residue from the serum representing milk sugar, and soluble ash, was what might be expected and is fairly correct; the caseine and milk-€at making up the coagulum, are, of course, much too high. Hoffrnann and Casper Neumann made analysis of milk, and estimated the total solids with accuracy-so that, despite of the clumsy processes, it is clear that had they only forsaken their wearisome distillations, and essayed the use of solvents, the 13th century chemists mould have made a very fair quantitative analysis of milk.The great chemists Stahl Merggraf, Brandt, Bergmann, Schiele Berthollet Priefley and Lavoisier also belong to the 18th century, and laid the foundations of modern chemistry, which were so extended and developed by Liebig and the German school. Modern analysis is so very modern, that several living chemists have pretty well seen its entire growth, sound views as to the constitution of organic bodies, aud accurate methods for the quantitative determination of alcohol, sugar, starch, gum, fat, wax, resines glucosides and alkaloids, all of which, the very root of our operations, are, so to speak, the birth of yesterday. The food analysts since 1874, united in a society, have aimed at the co-ordination and the apeoialisation of existing knowledge, so as to bring it to bear upon the subjects which it is their duty to deal with, and they have done so, with such success, that their nine years of corporate existence can be looked at with pride and satisfaction. There is a great gap between the appliances in the laboratory of Voltelenus; between the painful tedious watching for thirteen days of a distillation, and the rapid yet accurate methods now in um, but there still remains a great deal of work to be done in order to distinguish the true from the false. We. must settle the composition definitely of all genuine subsfancefl, a task requiring many hands and minds and these not morlriiig done, but in co-operation.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8840900163

出版商:RSC    

年代:1884

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

166 THE ANALYST. AN EXAMINATION OF MUSTARDS MANUFACTURED AND SOLDIN NEW PORK CITY. BY E, WALLER AND E. W. MARTIN. WE bave bad occasion recently to make an examination of samples of mustard manu- faotured in New Yoi*k City, and have presumed to believe that a statement of our results may not be without interest to the members of the Society of Public Analysts. Many interesting points have been suggested by the results of the examination, but we are at present too closely occupied with other mattem to follow up the lines of inquiry so attraotivoly suggested, The samples of dry mustard (Table I) represent the lowest pa$m of mustard put upon the market by &Ven different rnunufaaturers, while the samples of mustard pastes TABLE I,-(DRY) MUSTARD MANUFACTURED AND SOLD IN NEW YORK CITY.6-84 6-78 4.92 2-05 16-05 NO. - 197 204 206 207 208 209 213 214 216 217 218 219 294 215 7 Mar tins Y. Turmeric Ma&ns Y. ~ u ~ n e r i c Moisture, 1 Fixedoil. Gout’s stmch CaSO, present ,, Ash fused CaSO, present i: 9 9 i- 6.15 8.03 7-36 8.23 8.50 7.24 7-65 7.60 7.15 5.45 6-60 8.45 6-62 9-86 21-17 12-79 12.54 8-42 10’92 6.81 13.32 7.74 9.09 20.57 8.59 14-59 .22*56 6-21 I I ,, ,, I ” [Mrtrtins Y. Soluble, CaSO, present :: CaSO, present CaSO, present N: starch 0-30 1-39 0.23 0-15 2.90 0.10 0.64 1.53 0.20 0.15 1.52 2 15 1.62 1-16 NO. 221 222 237 242 244 Asb , Ash. Common Other Or- Moisture. iz!,~ oil, Salt, 77*02 2-76 2.56 14*18 2.51 093 3.4s 2-11 81.52 1-98 3.50 10.67 1.77 0.56 2.33 1.63 77.62 2‘43 8-90 12-60 2.52 0-97 3’49 76-54 3.69 4-57 11-53 2-89 0.98 3-67 1:k6 81.45 2.94 3.73 9.09 2-14 O*G6 2-79 1.77 Insoluble.)il on dried 5’54 45-39 4-69 1-90 13.15 3.55 5.17 1*69 2-91 6-12 5-65 G*65 4-86 3.54 Netallic Copper (per cent.) Colouring Remarks, &o. Total. 21.24 19-51 23-14 22-44 I I trace 0.009 0*003 trace Ckwman mustards,” (Table 11) as they are termed here in the trade, represent four TABLE II,-MUSTARJI PASTE, b 1 GERMAN MUSTARD,” MANUFACTURED IN N.Y. (YITY. different manufacturers, Nos. 231 and 242 being from the same. Ask-Ignition of the dried residue from the above at as low a temperature as possible, after weighing, boiling with water, filtering and weighing tho undissolved residue to get rJoluble and insoluble ash.TEE ANALYST. 167 - No. HzO Oil. Pixed oil.-Extraction in a modified form of Soxhlet apparatus with ether.The modification was only of such a nature as to render the apparatus more durable, tmd had no effect on the principle or method of extraction of the Soxhlet apparatus. For the German mustards the method followed had only those modifications which the pasty condition of the material required. In extracting the oil some 15 or 20 gms. mere dried in the air bath unhl the material ceased to lose weight, when it was ground up in a mortar, a portion weighed out and extracted with ether in the Soxhlet apparatus. The results so obtained are given in the column headed '( Oil on ,dried mustard," and by calculation the figures in the third column (Table 11) were determined. The cccctic acid was determined by washing a weighed quantity of the paste on a filter with cold water, until the filtrate was neutral, adding coralline and titrating with half normal sulphuric acid.The acetic acid-so calculated was deducted from the loss by drying, which was assumed to represent moisture and acetic acid together. Copper was determined by destroying the organic matter so far as possible by heating with fuming nitric acid, finally fusing with potassium nitrate, and subjecting tho solution (converted into sulphates) to the action of a-battery, In heating for this purpose, burners constructed of glass and cork were used. As a guide in these examinations samples of mustard purporting to be pure wer obtained from manufacturers in the City, and specimens of mustard seed were also obtained, which after repeatedly grinding in n coffee mill were submitted to the same tests.Through the kindness of Mr. Wigner we reoeived also samplea of mustard flour and seed from the liondon market, the results on which are also given in Tables 111 and lV. Ash, Soluble. Ihsoluble.1 Total. Remarks. TABLE III.-(BoLTED) MUSTARD FLOUR PURPORTJNG TO BE PURE. From New Yor& Nm2cfactztrers. 201 6.10 2642 0.21 6'92 6.21 220 6.60 26.70 0-86 4-80 5.66 273 6-85 36.67 0.176 3.725 3.900 274 4*75 41.70 0.126 4.435 4.550 Bnglieh Samples. Trieste and Bombay Seed, mixed. Whiteseed. Brownseed. Ash fused. TABLE IV,---GROUND MUSTARD SEEDS. NO Hind of Seed. H80. Oil. AXEMCAN MARKET. 23 1 Bombay .. .. 7-52 36*96 232 Trieste .. 6-35 36-45 233 California diiow , , 4-96 34-00 234 EnglishYellow 6-10 35*46 271 White * * *, 7.10 34.45 272 Brown ..7.30 34'71 ENGLISH MABKET. Ash. .- Sohble. Insoluble. Total.' 1.26 4.37 5-62 0-70 3.70 4.40 0*60 4-40 4.90 0.26 4.55 4.80 0.7 3*9 4.60 0-85 3-9 4-15168 THE ANALYST. The results obtained for 08 on NOS. 201 and 220 led to inquiry, the result of which was the discovery that it is the regular practice of the mustard manufacturers here to express a portion of the oil from the pound mustard seed, before working it up into the condiment sold as mustard. In these samples, as well as in No. 219, which was sold under guarantee of being pure mustard without admixture, no starch, colouring material, or other material known to be foreign to the mustard seed, was found. If we calculate, then, that these musttwds had been made up from mustard flour containing 25 per cent of oil, by multiplying the percentages of oil given in Table I by four, we would get; approximately the proportions of mustard flour present in per- centages.I n justice to the manufacturer of No. 214, it may be stated that the package was labelled as consisting of a mixture of mustard and staiwh. On none of the other samples, however, did there appear any such intimation. we were told that a man who formerly worked under one of the well-known English manufacturers of mustard had asserted that the practice of extracting a portion of the oil before making the condiment was used in England, and that in order to evade the vigilance of the ’Public Analysts, that starch or flour, saturated with some inferior fat or oil, was mixed in with the mustard flour.An assertion coming in so roundabout 8, manney would have received no attention, had it not been that samples bearing the name of that manufacturer, were submitted to examination at the same time with those above enumerated. Notwithstanding a high percentage of oil, the samples con- tained starch when examinod by the microscope, and by the iodine test, and the oil extracted was decidedly more fluid than that extracted from any of the other samples. These points gape Borne colour to the statement quoted. AS yet, however, we have been rinslble to verify the actual presence of any oil Mr. Wigner also kindly sent us a sample of The oil extracted from that did not; have 80 foreign to mustard in the extracts. mustard from the same manufacturer. marked a fluidity.The results were as follows :- Ash 7- No. H,O Oil. Soluble. Inaoliible. Total 199 35-15 0.34 3.64 3.98 1 Ash fused in dl cases. 230 4- 92 35.13 0.25 3.80 4-09 All contained Turmeric 275 5,175 32-01 0-25 3*62 3-87 and Starch. Nos. 199 and 230 were of the ~ a r m brand, though purchased at different times and in different places, No. 275 was the sample sent by Mr. Wigner, So far as the results of the teats on genuine mustards (flour and seed) go, some modific8tion seems necessary for Dr. Blyth’s statement (Foods, p. 491) that 30 per cent. of the ash of mustard is rJoluble in water. The fusibility of the ash of some of the specimens was an unlooked-for phenomenon, and what tests we have made have been insufficient to decide the point. It is apparently not due to presence of an excess of carbonates of the alkalies, as the reaction of the solution of the ash was only very faintly alkaline.Noreover, even after boiIing ~ t h water the fusible portion was not removed. Remarks.THE ANALYST. 169 ~ On a few of the samples the experiment of removing the oil by the use of CS2 in the Boxhlet apparatus was tried ; the results were found to be lower in every case than when ether waa used. As witness : Sample No. Oil by ether. Oil by CS,. . 197 21.17 19*73 207 842 6'36 213 13.32 10.90 220 25.70 25.0s We have not yet decided as to the aipifiotmce of this fact. Nos, 197, 20'1, 213, and 294, were found to be coloured with Hartins yellow (di- nitronaphthol), a specimen of which was handed us at the same time with the samplm of mustard.The sample had apparently been made from the sulpho compound, as it gave reactions with barium salts, after fusion with potassium nitrate. After purification by solution in alcohol, filtering and rec+ystallising the product failed to give this reaction, The sample was the calcium compound, and was found to contain :- CaO H20 POURd. Theory for Ca(C,,H,N2O6),6H2O. 998 9.12 17-00 per cent. 17*59 The calciam, sodium, and ammonium salts are moderately soluble in hot water, In these solutions, potassium chloride produced precipitates of red tufted crystals, not very soluble in water or alcohol. In the solution of the ammonium salt, concentrated solution of ammonium chloride produced a precipitate. I n any of the aqueous solutions precipitates soluble in alcohol mere produced by soluble barium, lead, and silver salts ; the colours of these precipitates ranged from orange to almost a vermillion shade.The addition of acids ( HUl,H4S04) to the aqueous solutions gave lemon yellow precipitates of the acid €using at 135O.7 C. (Recorded fusion point of pure acid 138" C.) By pro- longed heating with strong nitric acid, phthalic acid was obtained, proved by obtaining from it fluorescein by heating with resorein. The acid was readily soluble in chloroform. All of the compounds deflagrated violently on ignition. The calcium salt, when crystallised rapidly from its solution, gave crystalline plates ; when allowed to separate more alowly, it formed needles. By drying in the air bath its colour was deepened to red. It was found that qualitative tests for the presence of this oolour in the mustard could be made by pouring alcohol of 93 to 95 per cent, upon the mustard, allowing it to act for a few minutes (cold), stirring occasionally, and filtering.Moat of the colour, with some of the oil, wm thus extracted: By evaporatingoff the alcbhol and treating the residue with water, a solution was obtained in which wool could be readily dyed a brilliant yellow, The water solution, nevertheless, contained some gummy or oily substance, which presented some difficulties in the way of obtaining crystals of the colouring matter, for examination by the mioroscope, and the more thorough the extrac- tion with alcohol, and subsequent treatment with water, the greater this difficulty. We have 8s yet been unable to effect a satisfactory quantatitive separation of the colour in consequence, but atill hope to perfect some plan for that purpose.170 THE ANALYST. ~~ - ._ __ _ . ~ ~ Statements regarding the physiological effects of this colouring matter when swallowed, are few and far between. Eulenberg, in his Handbuck de Qewerbliche Hygiene, states, that the dinitronaphthol is non-poisonous. Experiments made upon dogs by Dr, 0, Edson, of the Health Department, in connection with this investigation, went to show that it was a strongly irritant poison. Four dogs, each weighing about 50 lbs., were killed by doses of 15 to 40 grains of this colour. The autopsy showed acute gastero-enteritis as the cause of death.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8840900166

出版商:RSC    

年代:1884

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

170 THE ANALYST. DETERMINATION OF FREE ACID IN OILS. BY 1;. ARCHBUTT, F.C.S. IN the ANALYST for September, 1883, and again in the number for June, 1884, there appeared papers translated from foreign journals, descriptive of certain methods for estimating Free Fatty Acid in Oils. As neither of the methods is so simple or satisfactory as it might be, a description of the process which I have constantly used for Borne years past may be of service to some readers of this journal. I use two tall, narrow-mouthed, colourless glass bottles, of about 400 C.C. capacity. One bottle is divided, by file marks on the side, into four parts of about 100 C.C. capacity each. An ordinary normal soda solution (40 grammes NaHO per litre) is used for the ti tration. The divided bottle is filled with re-distilled methylated spirit, a few drops of phenol- phthalein solution added, and normal soda run in, drop by drop, until the liquid is coloured a faint pink.This quantity of neutralised alcohol serves for four titrations. The other bottle is counterpoised on a large balance, and 50 gi*ammes of theoil are weighed into it. 100 C.C. of the neutral spirit is added, and a few drops more phenol* phthalein, and then normal soda is run in until the mixture, after being violently shaken, is permanently coloured just pink. One drop of soda, ( z . 0 3 per cent. of oleic acid) in excess, mill produce this result. The number of c.c.’s employed X-562 gives the percentage of free fatty acid, stated as oleic acid. The determination can thus be accurately made in a few minutes, with very little trouble.The bottle containing the oil and alcohol, when emptied and allowed to drain for a few seconds, is ready for the next sample. In the case of palmoil (which is often coloured red), and other solid fats, the process requires to be slightly modified. If the sample be very red, it will not b? possible to work on a much larger quantity than five grammes, and as a rule it will be found most convenient to take from 5 to 10 grammes of any solid fat. The result will not be quite so accurate as by using a larger quantity, but it mill be aufficiently so for most purposes. My plan is to melt some of the €at in a beaker, and weigh 10 grammes into a short wide-neoked flask, of about 150 C.C. capacity. 20 C.C. of neutralised spirit are added, and some phenol-phthalein, and then normal soda, as before, until the pink colour is permanent after vigorous shaking.During the titration, the fat is kept in a melted condition by warming the mixture occasionally. Even when palm oil is very red, withTHE ANALYST. 171 a, little care it is quite easy to detect the change. I have proved by experiment upon neutral palm oil that no saponification of the fat takes place. The number of c.c.’s of soda required x *255 gives the corresponding weight of free palmitic acid in the quan- tity of oil taken. Some oils are liable to contain a small quantity of Free Hifieral Acid which has not been washed out after refining. It is obvious that the process described above makes no distinction between mineral and fatty acid, but simply estimates the total acidity. Free mineral acid may, however, be readily detected and estimated by shaking the oil with water and methyl orange, instead of spirit and phenol-phthalein, the former indicator being unaffected by fatty acids. In this case it is better to separate the oil from the vater before titrating. In the caae of dark coloured mineral oils this precaution is essential. I The following factors will be useful :- 1 0.0. of Normal Alkali is equivalent to -281 gramme Oleic Acid. [ -265 ,, Palmitic Acid. * ‘283 ,, Stearic Acid. *O = 16*9G

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8840900170

出版商:RSC    

年代:1884

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

THE ANALYST. 171 ON THE PROPORTION OF FREE TATTY ACID IN CERTAIN OILS OF COMMERCE. BY L. ARUHBUTT, 3.C.S. 1. Oliva Oil.-During the past few years I have frequently examined samples taken from large brillrs of olive oil intended for lubricating. The proportion of free fatty acid (calculated as oleic acid) in 89 samples which proved to be genuine, ia given in the fol- lowing table :- Tree O b i ~ Acid per c a d . Origin of oil. No. of Barnplea. Highest. Lowest. Average. hlalaga .. 12 .. 25'1 .. 2.3 .. 8.1 deville .. 7 .. 10.0 .. 2'5 .. 5.3 Gallipoli ,. 3 ,. 15.0 .. 8.2 .. 129 Gioja ,. 2 .. l"0.4 .. 10.0 .. 109 Measina .. 5 .. 11.3 .. 8.2 ., 9.0 Unknown ., 60 .. 24*5 .. 2.2 .. 8.0 These results show that olive oil is liable to contain very considerable proportions of free fatty acid, which very much detracts from its value as a lubricant.1 have also found it;, on'thia account, very unsuitable for burning in lamps, tho free acid (if exceed- ing about 3 to 5 per cent,) having a very serious charring action upon tbe wick. 2. . R q o OF Colm OiZ.--Tfiis oil always contains a certain proportion of free fatty acid, but a far smaller and less variable proportion than olive oil. 44 sampleB of genuine refined rape oil for lubricating and burning, contained the following proportions of free acid, calculated as oleh :- Nighest; .. .b .. .. 5-5 percent, Lowest ,, .. .. *. 1.7 Averago ., .. .. 3.0 ,,172 THE ANALYST. 3. Palm OiL-This oil is liable to contain very large proportions of free fatty acid, as the following nine samples show :- Brand. Free Fatty Acid, caloulated as Palmitic. 1. Salt-pond . . . . . . . . . . 78-9 per cent. 2. Unknown . . . . . . . . . . 72.0 ,, 3. Brass . . . . . . . . . . 53-2 ), 6. Unknown . . . . . . . . . . 35*3 ,, 6. Half Jack . . . . . . . . . . 24-4 ,, 7. Bonny . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.5 .. S. 'uiilmown . . . . . . . . . . 13.3 ,, 9. Lagos .. . . . . . . . . . . 11.9 ,, 4. ~ e w CalaiAr . . . . . . . . . . 52*2 ,, Free palmitic acid has a very corrosive action upon steel. A strip of bright steel immersed in palm oil containing free acid, will soon become discoloured, and will he- quently be .found to be deeply pitted in places, if left some time in the oil. The action is very irregular, and I have not always found the most acid oil @ve the womt results.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8840900171

出版商:RSC    

年代:1884

数据来源: RSC

摘要:

172 THE ANALYST. PHOSPHO-(YITRIC ACID, A Preparation to 8zclperselEe Citric ma7 Tbrtarh Acid8 in Mhaeral Waters. BY J. NAPIBR, B.C,S. CITRIC and tartaric acids have long been used for acidulating or giving to mineral waf,ei*s their acid flavouring, but these acids have certain disadvantages, inasmuch as their solutions cannot bo kept for any groat length of time without the formation of a fungoid growth, and also the extreme difficulty of obtaining them free from lead, A solution has recently been offered to the trade called phospho-citric acid, intended to supersede citric and tartaric acids in mineral waters, a sample of which f have lately received, the composition of which, I have no doubt, mill interest analysts, It contains- Free Phosphoric Acid , , . , , , 34.34 per cent.Phos hafeof Magnesia ,, ,, ,. 1-86 j, Sulpl%e of Magnesia ,, .. , I 1.93 j j Bulphateof Lime ", ,, ,, ,, '66 ), Ironand Alumina ,. , , ,, ,, traces ,, Citrio Aoid ,, ., ,, ., ,. 6.60 ,, Water 6 , e , * * + * 54'82 9, - 100.00 -a Poisonous metals were entirely absent, and so also were free sulphuric, hydro- chloric, nitric, and acetic acids. The aolution was comparritively clear, and almost coloiirless. According to the proportions insbructed to be used, the quantity of phos- phoric acid in a small bottle (half-pint) will amount to *95 grains, which 1: found to be the case in a sample of lemoaade made with the above, The flavour and appearance mere quite as good as that made with the organic acids. Seeing that phosphoric acid has been largely urred, and appears to be highly valued for raising bread and pastry, and that it is recognised as an important medicinal consti- tuent to tho system, there is no reason why this article should not be used in this highly diluted form as tho acid flavouring of lemonado and other mineral waters.BOOKS, Lc., RECEIVED. Tho Cheniist and Druggist ; The Brewers' Guardian : The Briti8h Medical Journal : The Pharina- ceutioal Journal ; The Sanitary Rscord : The Miller ; The Provisioner ; The Practitioner ; New Remedies ; Proceedings of the American Chemical Society ; The Inventors' Record; New York Public Health ; The Scientific American ; Society of Arb Journal; Sanitary Engineer of New York ; Cowkeeper and Dairyman's Journal ; Sugar Cane ; Country Brewers' Gaxette ; The Medical Reoord ; The Grocers' Gazette ; London Water Supply, by Crookes, Odling and Tidy ; Chemical Review ; Independent Oil and Drug Journal and Paint Renew ; Science Monthly ; Journal of the Sooiety of Chemical Industry.

ISSN:0003-2654    

DOI:10.1039/AN8840900172

出版商:RSC    

年代:1884

数据来源: RSC