152 SUGAR. 
_ 589. Almost all seeds employed as food contain a large - 
quantity of this substance. Wheat, Oats, Barley, Rice, &c. 
abound in it. Perhaps there are few plants which do not — 
contain a quantity of starch in sofne part. — Almost all peren-. 
nial monocotyledonous roots contain a little. 
4. sUGAR. 
590. This substance exists in the sap of many vegetables ; 
it is generally procured from the juice of the Sugar-cane 
Arundo saccharifera or Saccharum officinarum.) The juice 
of the cane is found to contain 
Water, Albumen, Acetate of Lime, 
Sugar, Green Fecula, Acetate of Potash, 
Gum, Lignin, Super-Malate of 
Vegetable Mucilage, Acetic Acid, Lime, and 
Gluten, Malic Acid, Sulphate of Lime. « 
The juice is expressed from the cane by passing it between 
rollers, brought to a boiling heat, and mixed with a little 
lime, which neutralizes any acid that may be present. The 
liquid is then evaporated, and made to crystallize after the 
scum has been removed. The crystals are surrounded by 4 
brownish liquid, molasses or treacle, which is separated by @ 
mechanical process, and muscovado or raw sugar remains. 
591. Sugar is soluble in cold water, in boiling water, and 
_ in alcohol; its other properties are too well known to require 
_ tobe mentioned. It is very nutritious. The starch or fa- 
_rinaceous matter in the seed is converted during germina- 
tion into sugar, which appears to be necessary for the growth 
of the young plant at that stage. Sugar is composed of car-— 
nen, oxygen, and hydrogen, in the following proportions, 
_* aecording to MM. Gay-Lussac and Thenard :— 
Carbon, See ee ee Og 
Oxygen, teen eet. oa OS 
Hydrogen, . . Ste 6.90 
