82 ON THE PROCESS OF CLAYING SUGAR. 



than we yet do, to the cultivation of this vegetable; as, inde- 

 pendently on its beauty, it is so well calculated to lessen the 

 numbers of a most common and troublesome insect. 



No. XVII. 



On the Process of claying Sugar. By Jonathan Williams. Esq. 



Read March 4th, 1803, 



The art of refining sugar consists of three operations; 

 the first is clarification, so well known in Pharmacy, by the 

 addition of a coagulable substance, and a gentle application of 

 heat. The second is chryslalisation, that is, evaporating the 

 superabundant water by a strong application of heat; the third 

 is merely washing away the colouring mucus from the chrys- 

 talised mass, by a gradual supply, and minute distribution of 

 water. The last operation being alone the subject of this 

 paper, it is needless to enter into a detail of the preceding 

 ones, which are totally distinct from it. 



The mould in common use is made in the shape of a cone, 

 and perforated at its apex. It is placed in the fill-house in an 

 inverted position, and filled from the coolers with the sugar 

 partially granulated, but not sufficiently to separate the grains 

 from the mucus; a great proportion being still held in solution 

 by heat. In this state the mould remains all night, and in 

 the morning is hauled up from the fill-house into a room 

 above, where it is placed upon a pot, the apex of the cone 

 entering the mouth of the pot. The sugar is now become cool, 

 and forms a mass of grains and mucus; but care is taken to 

 keep the room warm enough to prevent the too great inspissa- 

 tion of the mucus. The surface of the sugar at the base of 

 the cone is made level, and having shrunk in consequence 

 of the first running of the mucus, there is sufficient space 

 within the mould to hold a quantity of clay, made, by a 

 proper mixture of water, into a semifluid state, ressembling 



