SUGARS. 105 



ments showing that beets contained sugar ; but it was not 

 until Acharcl, the son of a French refugee in Prussia, took 

 up the subject, and published the astonishing results of his 

 researches, that it excited public attention. The difference 

 between the two forms of sugar — that from grapes and that 

 from beets — was easily seen ; and Napoleon's attention was 

 called to it by his corps of illustrious chemists. He immedi- 

 ately gave himself to the work of creating and perfecting 

 this new industry; and in 1812 he had the satisfaction of 

 learning from the reports of his minister of the interior that 

 334 factories in the empire were producing annually 7,700,- 

 000 pounds of beautiful cane-sugar from beets. This seems 

 almost like the work of magic, and illustrates the greatness 

 of the man whose power was felt in every part of the civil- 

 ized world. 



The early attempts to extract sugar from beets in Napo- 

 leon's time were made subjects for fun and ridicule. The 

 emperor himself did not escape the lampoons of the wits of 

 the age. A caricature was exhibited in Paris, in which the 

 emperor and the babj^ king of Rome were the prominent 

 characters. The emperor was represented as sitting in the 

 nursery with a cup of coffee before him, into which he was 

 squeezing a beet-root. Near him was seated the King of 

 Rome voraciously sucking a beet-root; while the nurse, 

 standing near and steadfastly observing, is made to say to 

 the youthful monarch, " Suck, dear, suck : your father says it 

 is sugar." 



In manufacturing glucose from corn, the process is, first, 

 to separate the starch from the other constituents of the 

 grain, by simple mechanical means ; and then, secondly, to 

 act upon the starch with dilute sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol). 

 When thick gelatinous starch is boiled for a couple of hours 

 with this acid, a curious transformation takes place : the 

 milky paste first changes to a fluid as limpid as water ; and, 

 as the change advances, this acquires a sweet taste, which is 

 masked by the presence of the acid. If we now saturate 

 the solution with some earthy carbonate, marble-dust for 

 instance (carbonate of lime), the acid is removed, and a 

 sweet solution remains, which, after purification, may be 

 evaporated to a sirupy liquid, or, by still further manipula- 

 tion, converted into a white solid, which is grape-sugar. 



