HONEY. HONEY, as is well known, is the saccharine substance collected by bees from the nectaries of flowers, and stored by them in combs for winter use. It consists, as might be expected from its origin, of a mixture of various bodies, the principal of which are dextroglucose, lævoglucose, and a third body, which is probably one of the less known sugars. Besides these there are small proportions of wax, gum, pollen, and other vegetable and some mineral matters. The odour and flavour of honey vary according to the nature of the plants from which it has been collected. When new, it flows freely from the comb, and crystallizes after a time into a semi-solid mass. This change takes place to some extent in the comb if left for several months, and then heat and pressure are required for its removal. It is probable that the saccharine substances extracted from the flowers undergo modification in the honey-bag of the bees. In connection with this it has been observed that bees fed upon a solution of pure cane-sugar readily produce wax therefrom for the formation of the comb. The third principal constituent referred to as probably one of the less known sugars is only partially fermentable, and has no direct action upon cupric tartrate, but is gradually converted into glucose when boiled for several hours with a few drops of sulphuric acid. Some chemists have represented this body as cane-sugar, but when the samples of honey mentioned in the table below were boiled with sulphuric acid for a sufficient time to invert cane-sugar, the additional reduction of cupric tartrate corresponded to only 2'10 per cent. of cane-sugar in the honey from comb, and to less than 1 per cent. in the other four samples. It is therefore evident that but a small part of it, if any, is canesugar, and we have therefore placed it in the table as sugar not identified." As honey is acid, and undergoes a slight fermentation, cane-sugar, even if originally present, would gradually be transformed into invert-sugar, and thus escape detection. 66 The following results have been obtained from an examination of five samples of commercial honey: The adulterants said to have been found in honey are gypsum, chalk, pipeclay, starch, glucose, and cane-sugar, but at the present day the three former are not likely to be used. Starch may be readily found by the microscope and solutions of iodine. Glucose cannot be detected by chemical means, and only by the polariscope when in sufficient quantity to change the angle of rotation beyond the limits found in genuine honey. Cane-sugar may be found by the copper test, and also by the polariscope; and in this case the readings are taken both before and after inversion, the difference in the readings being proportionate to the amount of cane-sugar present. |