A PAPER OF CANDY. 783 



its succeeding treatment, which consists chieflj of a series of filtrations 

 (through cloth bags and bone-black), pass down from story to story 

 by its own gravity. After the liquor has been passed through char- 

 coal it is boiled to evaporate the water, then crystallized, the molasses 

 or '* sugar-drip " drained off, and the residuum of sugar dried in a cen- 

 trifugal machine. 



The philosophy of the action of heat on boiling sugar and water is 

 by all odds the most curious and important matter connected with the 

 making of confections. Put a little water and crushed sugar into a 

 clean brass kettle, and note the changes which ensue when it is placed 

 over a brisk tire. First, when the sugar is dissolved, we have what is 

 called " simple sirup " ; continue the boiling a little longer, and the 

 liquor, if cooled, will deposit its excess of sugar on the sides and bot- 

 tom of the vessel in the form of rock-candy ; boil a little longer, and 

 the sugar shows an inclination for the granular condition ; longer stiU, 

 and it forms a thick, pasty, transparent mass ; longer yet, and it 

 " caramels," or turns yellow and then brown. This w'hole series of 

 processes, or states, is technically divided by the confectioner into 

 nine degrees, which form his nine mysteries, his nine points of the 

 law. These degrees are styled the " small thread " and " large thread," 

 the " little pearl " and " large pearl," the " blow," the " feather," the 

 " ball," the " crack," and the " caramel," all of which are produced by 

 a heat ranging from 230° to 260° Fahr. In the thread degree the sugar 

 threads or strings when held up in the air by the fingers ; the blow 

 is so called from the workman dipping his skimmer into the liquor, 

 draining it, and then blowing through the holes ; if small, sparkling 

 bubbles are seen on the farther side of the skimmer, the sirup is known 

 to be in the " blow " degree ; when in the " feather," the sirup hangs 

 from the skimmer like flying floss, and is then said by the French to 

 be " d la grande plume " — it is the point of crj^stallization ; in the 

 " ball " degj'ee it makes hard balls when rolled between the fingers ; 

 in the " crack " it snaps like a clay pipe-stem — it now tends to grain ; 

 the ninth or caramel degree was discovered, or first intelligently noted, 

 by Count Albufage Caramel, of Nismes. The greater part of our can- 

 dies are made from sirup which has passed the eighth or crack degree 

 (250° Fahr.), and the skill of the artist is shown in bringing his sirup 

 as near as he possibly can to the caramel (260° Fahr.) without permit- 

 ting it actually to reach that imdesirable point ; for, when sirup begins 

 to caramel, it becomes quickly dark-colored, froths up and fills the ket- 

 tle, emits puffs of smoke, and acquires a bitter taste : the sugar is then 

 called " burnt sugar," although it is not really burned. 



But it is high time we saw the magician at work. His manufactur- 

 ing-room may look a little like an alchemist's den, if you choose. Here 

 arc large coppered kettles, full of steaming sirup ; there, men are at 

 work picking up Malaga grapes with a fine pair of nippers and dip- 

 ping them into creamed sugar ; at yonder table one is cutting up a 



