-----------------------------+-----------+-------+---------+--------- |Hungarian. |Chili. |Italian. |Normandy. -----------------------------+-----------+-------+---------+--------- Reducing sugar | 67·17 | 73·05 | 70·37 | 79·39 Crystallised sugar | 7·58 | 4·55 | 5·77 | 0· Direct polarisation | -13·70 |-14·15 | -8·55 | -9·25 Polarisation after inversion | -15·40 |-14·85 | -12·0 | .. -----------------------------+-----------+-------+---------+--------- The substances said to be employed in the adulteration of honey are water, starch, cane sugar, and glucose-syrup; the last mentioned is undoubtedly most commonly used. Hager[64] states that, by treating corn starch with oxalic acid, a product is obtained which, on standing two or three weeks, acquires the appearance and taste of genuine honey; and samples of commercial honey not unfrequently wholly consist of this or some other form of artificial glucose. The season for the collection of honey by bees is a limited one, and any existing deficiency in their natural source of supply is sometimes remedied by placing vessels filled with glucose near the hives. Occasionally the bees are also supplied with a ready-made comb, consisting, at least partially, of paraffine. It has been asserted that in some instances, this factitious comb is entirely composed of paraffine, but the writer is informed that, if the sophistication is practised to a proportion of over 10 per cent., the bees do not readily deposit the honey in the comb. Owing to the complex composition of honey and to the rather incomplete character of the analyses of the genuine article at hand, the detection of some of the forms of adulteration resorted to is a matter of considerable difficulty. The presence of starch is best recognised by the microscopic examination of the honey. This will likewise reveal the absence of pollen, which may be regarded as a certain indication of the spurious nature of the sample. There appears to exist a difference of opinion in regard to the presence of cane sugar in genuine honey, but it may safely be accepted that the detection of a considerable proportion of this substance points to its artificial addition. In all cases of suspected adulteration with cane sugar or glucose, the determination of the sugar present by means of the polariscope and by Fehling’s method (both before and after inversion) is indispensable. It is commonly stated that unsophisticated honey polarises to the left, and that a sample possessing a dextro-rotary action is necessarily contaminated with glucose or cane sugar; but, while in the great majority of cases this is doubtless the fact, it is equally certain that honey of known purity has been met with which polarised to the right. Upon the inversion of honey containing cane sugar, the dextro-rotation is changed to a levo-rotation.