PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTS. FIRST DAY. WEDNESDAY-MORNING SESSION. The twenty-fourth annual convention of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists was called to order by the president, Mr. J. P. Street, of New Haven, Conn., on the morning of October 9, in the assembly hall of the Inside Inn, Jamestown Exposition, Norfolk, Va. The following members and visitors registered during the convention: MEMBERS AND VISITORS PRESENT. Allen, William M., Department of Agriculture, Raleigh, N. C. Atkinson, Frederick C., District Chemist, Southern Cotton Oil Company, Savannah, Ga. Averitt, S. D., Agricultural Experiment Station, Lexington, Ky. Birdsey, C. E., New York, N. Y. Bizzell, James A., 804 E. Seneca street, Ithaca, N. Y. Blair, A. W., Agricultural Experiment Station, Gainesville, Fla. Bryan, Thomas J., Illinois State Food Commission, Manhattan Building, Burnet, Wallace C., Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C. Carpenter, F. B., Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company, Richmond, Va. Carroll, John S., German Kali Works, Atlanta, Ga. Cathcart, Charles S., Agricultural Experiment Station, New Brunswick, N. J. Cook, Frank C., Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C. Cook, H. H., Waterbury, Conn. Curry, B. E., Durham, N. C. Davidson, Robert J., Agricultural Experiment Station, Blacksburg, Va. Dodge, C. O., Washington, D. C. Doyle, Aida M., 1025 Lamont street, Washington, D. C. Dox, Arthur W., Assistant Dairyman, Bureau of Animal Industry, Storrs, Conn. Ellett, Walter B., Agricultural Experiment Station, Blacksburg, Va. Frear, William, Agricultural Experiment Station, State College, Pa. Fuller, Mrs. F. D., Harrisburg, Pa. Gaither, E. W., Nashville, Tenn. Gearkens, A., Antwerp, Belgium. Gudeman, Edward, Consulting Chemist, 704 Rialto Building, Chicago, Ill. Hand, William F., Agricultural Experiment Station, Agricultural College, Miss. Hanson, Herman H., Agricultural Experiment Station, Orono, Me. Hartwell, Burt L., Agricultural Experiment Station, Kingston, R. I. Haskins, H. D., Amherst, Mass. Haywood, William G., Department of Agriculture, Raleigh, N. C. Heide, Henry, 313 Hudson street, New York, N. Y. Herff, B. von, 93 Nassau street, New York, N. Y. Hite, B. H., Agricultural Experiment Station, Morgantown, W. Va. Lipman, Jacob G., Agricultural Experiment Station, New Brunswick, N. J. McDonnell, H. B., Maryland Agricultural College, College Park, Md. Michael, Louis G., Agricultural Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Morrison, William G., F. S. Royster Guano Company, Norfolk, Va. Patrick, G. E., Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C. Patten, Andrew J., Agricultural Experiment Station, Agricultural College, Mich. Patterson, H. J., Agricultural Experiment Station, College Park, Md. Pierce, Anne L., Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C. Pinkerton, Thomas C., Walbrook, Baltimore, Md. Porch, Madison B., Hygienic Laboratory, Washington, D. C. Richardson, W. D., Swift & Co., Chicago, Ill. Richardson, Mrs. W. D., Chicago, Ill. Robb, John B., Department of Agriculture, Richmond, Va. Robertson, B. F., Agricultural Experiment Station, Clemson College, S. C. Rose, R. E., Tallahassee, Fla. Ross, B. B., State Chemist, Auburn, Ala. Rudnick, Paul, Armour & Co., Chicago, Ill. Schmitt, Walter, Armour & Co., Chicago, Ill. Shedd, O. M., Agricultural Experiment Station, Lexington, Ky. Sherwood, Sidney F., Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C. Shutt, Frank T., Experiment Farm, Ottawa, Canada. Sindall, Harry E., 133 North Front street, Philadelphia, Pa. Smith, Frank M., H. J. Baker and Brother, 100 William street, New York, N. Y. Smither, F. W., Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C. Snyder, Harry, Agricultural Experiment Station, St. Anthony Park, Minn. Street, John Phillips, Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Conn. Taber, Walter C., Bureau of Soils, Washington, D. C. Tolman, L. M., Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C. Trowbridge, P. F., Agricultural Experiment Station, Columbia, Mo. Van Slyke, L. L., Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, N. Y. Warner, H. J., Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Wiley, H. W., Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C. Wiley, S. W., Wiley & Hoffman, Baltimore, Md. Willard, Julius F., Agricultural Experiment Station, Manhattan, Kans. Winton, A. L., Food and Drug Inspection Laboratory, Manhattan Building, Chicago, Ill. Withers, W. A., Agricultural Experiment Station, West Raleigh, N. C. Zerban, Fritz, Agricultural Experiment Station, Audubon Park, New Orleans, La. A communication was presented from the Fertilizer Manufacturers' Association inviting the members of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists to be their guests at dinner on the evening of October 9, and the secretary was instructed to accept the invitation on behalf of the association. Letters from Atlantic City, N. J., Asbury Park, N. J., and Columbus, Ohio, inviting the association to hold the meeting of 1908 in the several localities named were also submitted and referred to the executive committee, the secretary being authorized to acknowledge the same. FOOD ADULTERATION. In the absence of Mr. Leach, referee on food adulteration, no general report on the subject was made, and the associate referees on the subject presented the subreports in the following order: REPORT ON COLORS. By E. F. LADD, Associate Referee. The referee on colors submitted two subreports by Messrs. Hortvet and Gudeman and made the following recommendations, which were presented in his behalf by the secretary: It is recommended (1) That more attention be given to the use of color standards in color work on foods by following the outline and method prepared by Mulliken in A Method for Identification of Pure Organic Compounds," as suggested by Mr. Julius Hortvet. (2) That a more comprehensive examination of the so-called " vegetable colors," some of which it would seem are not more properly to be classed as vegetable colors than are the anilin colors, be made during the coming year. The paper submitted by Mr. Hortvet, entitled "An examination of colors used in foods or natural to foods," is to be found in the Eleventh Biennial Report of the Minnesota State Dairy and Food Commission, pages 583 to 593. The second subreport, entitled "Solubilities and extraction values of food colors," by Edward Gudeman, is to be found in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, November, 1907, volume 29, No. 11, page 1629. The report contains two tables giving the solubility and extraction values obtained on three vegetable colors and three. coal-tar colors of similar shades and possessing exceptional color intensities. The following extract is made, giving the conclusions reached: Examination of these tables shows that the use of miscible solvents like methyl and ethyl alcohols and acetone are of no value for extraction purposes. Solvents of an acid-like character (ethyl acetate) are not suitable, as the results obtained are misleading, due to the effect of the solvent on the color. The solubilities of many colors in petroleum ether, carbon disulphid, carbon tetrachlorid, and chloroform is so slight that these solvents are very suitable for preliminary extraction of food products, thereby extracting oils and fats before making dyeing tests to separate the colors. Care must be exercised, as many colors are soluble in fats or oils and are liable to be extracted in such preliminary treatment. Examination of the fats or oils will show whether any color has been extracted with these. Conclusions drawn from a very large number of solubility and extraction tests, extending over a long period of time, are that the colors extracted or dissolved by many solvents under varying conditions from neutral, acid, or alkaline solutions, give no conclusive data for deciding upon the character or class of the colors themselves. The differences in solubility and in extractive values of vegetable colors, compared with coal-tar colors, are no greater nor less than the differences found between the various colors themselves belonging to the same class of colors. Comparative color intensities were also determined, and it was found that only a very limited number of vegetable colors had a color intensity equal to one-fourth that of a corresponding shade of coal-tar color, and that the largest number of vegetable colors had one-tenth or less color intensity than the corresponding coal-tar color of similar shade. In the absence of the referee on saccharine products, the following note from him was presented by the secretary: REPORT ON SACCHARINE PRODUCTS. By C. H. JONES, Associate Referee. The referee on saccharine products attempted no cooperative work this year, but has personally examined many representative samples of maple sirup and sugar from the large crop of 1907 and found them to conform to the standards already established. It would seem that with the ash test, and the determination of the lead precipitate, and the malic acid value all ordinary maple substitutes might be readily differentiated from the pure article. A few changes in the determination of the malic acid value, based on the cooperative work done in 1906, have been referred to Mr. J. K. Haywood, chairman of the committee on the revision of methods, for insertion in the methods to be adopted at this convention, REPORT ON COCOA AND COCOA PRODUCTS. E. MONROE BAILEY, Associate Referee. The associate referee on cocoa and cocoa products submitted the following methods of analysis by Winton, with the statement that with a few modifications they were the same as those employed at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, and published in the station report for 1902-3. He further suggested that the method used in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Chemistry (Dubois's method"), be substituted for section 13, "Sugar," and recommended that these methods be adopted by the association as provisional until the referee could make a fuller report upon this subject. The methods, with the change in section 13 as suggested, are given in Bulletin 107, Revised, Methods of Analysis, page 254. DISCUSSION ON SPICES. The associate referee on spices, A. L. Winton, made no formal report, but stated that the methods for the examination of spices used at present seemed to him fairly satisfactory, and that the efforts of the association might therefore be better devoted to subjects of more pressing need. Mr. Winton further said: It has been my privilege to examine numerous shipments of spices in the warehouses of importers, where I have had an opportunity to note not only the general character of the products, but also the extent to which they have been damaged by insects. The nutmegs, known in the trade as grinding nutmegs, have been visited before shipment by some insect which, curiously enough, devours almost completely the starchy portion of the nut, but avoids the resinous veins. As a consequence, the nuts are light in weight and may be easily crushed between the fingers. Such nutmegs grind more easily than the sound product and, owing to the removal of the starchy matter, may contain a higher percentage of volatile oil; they are, however, unfit for consumption and their sale is a direct violation of the food and drugs act, on the ground that they are in whole or in part a filthy, decomposed, or putrid vegetable substance. Whole ginger during long storage is almost sure to be attacked by the drugstore beetle, which makes numerous burrows through the hands and finally converts the product almost entirely into a disgusting powder. Cayenne pepper and paprika, both before and after grinding, suffer severely from the attacks of a moth, the larva of which bores through the material and finally is transformed into the adult stage with the formation of a web. On opening a bottle of cayenne pepper which has been closed for months or even years a number of these moths will often fly out of the bottle. Mr. KEBLER. Considerable quantities of worm-eaten ginger are imported into the United States. Several samples were detained at the ports, and at the hearing it developed that the worm-eaten ginger was ground and used in the manu a J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1907, 29: 556; U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry, Bul. 107, Rev., Appendix, page 256. |