Girard and Dupre Test.—Shake well a portion of the sample with water and filter, acidify with hydrochloric acid, then extract with amyl alcohol, and if cochineal is present the extract will be colored yellow or orange, the particular shade depending on the amount of cochineal present. Remove the amyl alcohol and wash with water until it is neutral. To half of this, add a very dilute solution of uranium acetate, drop by drop, and shaking well after the addition of each drop. Cochineal, if present, will produce a characteristic emerald-green color.
Confirm by adding a drop or two of ammonia to the second half of the amyl alcohol extract and a violet coloration will be produced if cochineal is present.
Coal-Tar Coloring Matter
Sostegni and Carpentieri Test.—Free from grease a piece of woolen cloth (nun’s veiling will do) by boiling first in very dilute caustic soda solution and then in water. Acidify a portion of the sample with 2 to 4 cc. of 10 per cent solution of hydrochloric acid and filter. Strips of the cleansed cloth are boiled in this filtrate for 5 or 10 minutes, then removed, washed in water and boiled with very dilute hydrochloric acid solution. Wash out the acid and dissolve the color from the cloth by boiling in a solution of ammonium hydroxid (1 to 50). (The time required will depend upon the dye present.) Remove the cloth from the solution and acidify the latter with hydrochloric acid and another piece of the cleansed cloth is immersed and again boiled. This second dyeing fixes only coal-tar colors on the cloth, hence, no fear of mistaking them for the natural color of the vegetable.
IN GREEN PICKLES, BEANS, PEAS, ETC.
Copper Salts
Burn 20 grams of the sample to an ash and wet the ash with concentrated nitric acid, dilute with water and boil. Add ammonia till strongly alkaline and filter. If the filtrate is blue, copper is present.
Confirm by acidifying the filtrate with acetic acid and adding potassium ferrocyanid. A red or brownish precipitate or coloration proves the presence of copper. The test for other heavy metals may be made by the [general method] given under meats.