Page:Foods and their adulteration; origin, manufacture, and composition of food products; description of common adulterations, food standards, and national food laws and regulations (IA foodstheiradulte02wile).pdf/263

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sulfuric acid (1 to 3) and extract with ether. Separate the ether layer, allow the ether to evaporate spontaneously, and take up the residue with water. If saccharin be present its presence will be indicated by the sweet taste imparted to the water. To confirm this test add from one to two grams of sodium hydroxid, and place the dish in an oil bath. Maintain the temperature of the oil at 250° C. for 20 minutes, when the saccharin will be converted into salicylic acid. After cooling and acidifying with sulfuric acid, extract in the usual way and test for salicylic acid. This test, of course, presupposes the absence of salicylic acid in the original sample. If salicylic acid is present in the original sample it must be removed before making the test for saccharin.

Fig. 27.Indian Corn Starch. × 200.—(Bureau of Chemistry.)

Starch of Indian Corn.—Maize starch has characteristics which enable it to be easily detected by the microscope. The granules of this starch are of a more uniform size than those of wheat and vary from 20 to 30 microns in diameter. Occasionally very much smaller granules occur which probably are more of the original size and which have been arrested in growth by the ripening of the grain. The granules of maize starch are more or less polyhedral in form with round angles. The only common cereal starch which they can be mistaken for is rice, but they are generally larger than the granules of rice. Under the microscope with ordinary light they give only the faintest sign of