CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 195 



It does not seein necessary that this improvement, which is an im- 

 portant one, should be confined to merely aluminous shales, but it may 

 also be applied to pipe-clay, or any convenient material abounding in 

 alumina. Editor. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



THE following is the abstract of a patent recently granted to Mr. 

 John Frazer, of London, for improvements in the manufacture of sugar. 



The expressed cane-juice is poured into an open vessel through a 

 sieve containing about one pound of quicklime. A similar quantity 

 of lime is mixed with about a gallon of juice, in a vessel, and kept 

 ready for use. This quantity of lime is sufficient for two hundred and 

 twenty gallons of juice. When about one hundred gallons of juice are 

 run into the vessels, the mixture of lime and juice in the vessel is put 

 in along with half a gallon of sulphurous acid, of the gravity of 

 1.05, containing 30 volumes of gas to one of water. When the whole 

 220 gallons of juice are run in, i of a gallon of the sulphurous acid is 

 added, and the whole well stirred and allowed to settle. The clear 

 liquor is then drawn off and boiled in an open pan. The scum is care- 

 fully removed, and the liquor gives out a peculiar odor, which decreases 

 as the boiling is continued. The liquor is at first a deep brown, then 

 green, then becomes a rich golden color throwing up yellow flakes. 

 When the color is quite clear, the boiling is discontinued, and the 

 liquor is then fit for evaporation and crystallization in the common 

 way. The boiling may be done in the vacuum pan, care being taken 

 to remove the scum when the liquor is about the density of 38 Baume. 



M. NIELSEN'S PROCESS OF REFINING SUGAR. 



THIS process has been tried at Gaudaloupe, and a commission, 

 appointed by the governor of the island, has reported thereon. The 

 commission state that the only advantage possessed by the use of bisul- 

 phate of lime is that of arresting, or at least delaying, the fermenta- 

 tion of the cane-juice ; that its faculty of decolorizing the syrup is 

 annihilated by the necessity of employing a large proportion of lime ; 

 and that the relative return of sugar from a given quantity of juice is 

 less than that obtained by the process at present in use. The com- 

 mission therefore recommend the abandonment of M. Melsen's process. 

 As the experiments previously made in France and Belgium failed in 

 demonstrating the advantage of the use of bisulphate of lime in the 

 manufacture and refining of beet-root sugar, and as the report of the 

 Gaudaloupe commission is against the employment of this salt in the 

 manufacture and refining of sugar-cane, we conclude that the merits 

 of this much vaunted process have beeen fairly tested, and that its 

 further employment is out of the question. 



NEW PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SODA. 



MR. WILLIAM COOK, C. E., of London, has recently taken out a 

 patent for the following method of making soda. He places a solu- 



