L: TECHNOLOGY. 491 



certain sugar establishment in Madras, where this process has 

 been introduced with great success, the cane is cut into thin 

 slices by machines, six of which were capable of cutting near- 

 ly one hundred tons of cane in twenty-four hours. The sub- 

 sequent treatment is similar to that with beet-root juice, and 

 requires no filtering through animal charcoal. The great ad- 

 vantage claimed, however,'is that eighty-two per cent, of the 

 saccharine matter is secured by the diffusive process, against 

 seventy per cent, by the ordinary method. 17-4, June 1, 92. 



ANALYSIS OF SACCHARINE MATTERS. 



During the late meeting of the British Association, Dr. Ap- 

 john gave a brief sketch of the methods of analysis usually 

 applied to different varieties of saccharine matters, stating 

 that they were three in number, namely, the optical method, 

 the chemical method, and that in which both these methods 

 are combined. He then explained the principle on which the 

 saccharorneter of Eclhil is based, and how, with the aid of this 

 instrument, and a double observation with it, one before and 

 the other after inversion of the sirup, the amount of cane- 

 susjai* in the saccharine material is determined. He considers 

 the information thus obtained of the highest value, the cane- 

 sugar being by far the most valuable constituent of crude 

 saccharine matter. But the analysis is imperfect, since it 

 oives no information as to the amount of the inverted sugar 

 and the grape-sugar, which are invariably associated with 

 the cane element, and does not even make it possible to as- 

 sign the aggregate quantity of these varieties of sugar. The 

 analysis, however, may be completed in a very simple way, 

 namely, by acting with the sirup, after its* inversion, upon 

 BarrossmilPs solution of copper, by means of which a third 

 equation is obtained, which, as there are only. three unknown 

 quantities, conducts at once to a complete solution of the 

 prpblem. The object of this paper, as stated by Dr. Apjohn, 

 was principally to call the attention of chemists to the pres- 

 ent imperfect state of saccharine analysis. 18 A, August 25, 

 562. 



MAKING SUGAR FROM FALLEN CANE. 



At a meeting of the Academy of Medical, Physical, and 

 Natural Sciences of Havana, Mr. De Castro presented a com- 



