SkilchofibeHiJofyofSugar. *m 



■** ful)fl.«nccs that ol>fcure the Aght." TLe abov« is the firft account I liav« fe«n pf i^hc 

 ?ncdicinal virtues of fugar. 



Galen* appears to have been w^i\\ acquainted with fugar, which he deferibes, neady as 

 Dlofcorides had done, as a kind of honey, cvUl^dfiicchar^ that came from India and Arabia 

 Felix, and concreted in reeds. He deferibes it as lefs fweet than honey, but of firnilar 

 ■qualities, as detergent, deficcative, and digerent. He remarks a differenccj however, in 

 tliat fugar is not Jifce honey injurious to the ftomach, or produQive of thirft {a). 



If tli£ third book of Galen, *' Upon Miedicines that may be eajily procured" be genuine, wn 

 have reafon to think fugar could not be a fcarce article, as it is there repeatedly pee- 

 fcribed. 



Lucan f alludes to fugar. In his third book, where he fpeaks of the fweet juices esprefTcd 

 from reeds, which were drank by the people of India {b). 



Seneca |, the philofopher, likewife fpeaks of ao oily fweet juice in reeds, wlach jprobjibly 

 was fugar {c). 



Pliny J was better acquainted with this fubflance, wiich -he calls by tlie name djaccaron \ 

 and fays, that it was brought from Arabia and India, but the beft from the latter country. 

 He deferibes it as a kind of honey, obtained from reeds, of a white colour, rcfembling 

 gum, and brittle when preffed by the teeth, and found in picc€s of the fize of a hpzel 4>ut. 

 It was ufed in medicine only {d). 



Salmafius, in his Pliniana Exercitationes, fays, that Pliny :relates, upon the authority of 

 Juba the hiftorian, that fome reeds grew in the Fortunate Iflands, which increafed to the 

 fize of trees, and yielded a liquor that was fweet and agreeable to the .paUitie. T«his plant 

 he concludes to be the fugar cane ; but I think the paffage in Pliny [e) fcarcely implies 

 fo much. — Hitherto we have had oo account of any artificial preparation of fugar, b^ 

 boiUng or otherwife ; but there .is a paflage in Statius j|, that feems, if the -reading be |^- 

 nuine, to allude to the boiling of fugar, and is thought to refer immediately thereto Iw 

 "Stephens in his Thefaurus (/). 

 , .Arrlan f , iu his Periplus {g) of the Red Sea, %eaks of the hoaey from reeds, -called 



(a) De fimpiic. Medicamentis. Lib. vii. 



'i^b') Quitiue brbunt «nera dukes ab arundmefaccos. Lucani Pliarfaiia lib. iii.Min. *37. 

 (.ff.)iAiuiit iitvraiiri apud'Indos mel, inurundinum foliis, quod aut ros illius-coeli aut ii^fjus atmixJinis burner 

 dulcis et pinguior gignat. Senec. Epiftol. 1. i. Epift. Ixxxiv. 



(r/) Saccaron Arabia fert, fed laudatius India. Eft autem me! in aruiidinibus collectum, gummium modo 

 candidum, dcntitus fiagilc, amptiffiraum nucis avcUarae magnitudine, ad mediciijae tantum uXum, Piin. 

 Hiftor. Natural. 1. xii. cap, viii. 

 ' (f) Plin. Hill. Nat. lib. vi. cap. xxxii. 



(/) Et qnas praecoquit Ebofitacannas 



Largis gratuitum cadit rapinis. Stat- Sy!r. I. vi. 15. 

 Hatfd'fltrbie (twiuit Stephanus) cannas rntelligit ex quibns faccharum exprimitur vel coquitnr. ^t fottaiTe 

 cannas 'pro faccharo ipfo -pofuit. Scd qui EbofitK illi, haKVenus apud neminem invenimus- Popu'ii fortalltt 

 funt Indis, ubi faccharum potiflimum-nafcttur. Stcpl:!. Thef. VoK Canna. ILt'ftio anttm d'Jbia eft. Vide 

 Not. Marklandi in hunc locum. 

 (j) MiXi TO H«X«f*iTO TO >.sy«,«>My Ib;^«{i. Page 150. Ed. Amftelod. 1683, Svo. 



•* Anno poft Chrift. nat. -143. f Lucani mors, A. D. 65. 3'Senecae tnots, A. D. 65; 

 § Plinii mors.A. D, 77. jj A.D. circes. '^f A.'D. 145. 



Vol. II.— June 1798. T facchar 



