410) ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
val, a fresh portion of this saccha- 
rine matter, which was exaétly simi- 
Jar to that already spoken of. 
V. Having thas provided myself 
with a certain quantity of this 
kind of sugar, I tricd various me- 
thods to make it take a regular 
crystallized form; butin that re- 
spect, all my trials were in vain. 
Whether I used the purest spirit of 
wine, or water, to dissolve this 
sabstance, the result was the same. 
¥ remarked, indeed, that the so- 
lution of it in water, which had 
been thickened to the consistence 
of syrup, deposited, after some time, 
small knobs on the sides of the ves- 
sel, which had the form of cauli- 
flowers; the whole solution after- 
wards coagulated, and appeared 
like a solid, dry, white mass, full 
of smail cavities, which, when ex- 
amined with a-microscope, seemed 
to be composed of very small lung 
erystals, extremely thin, and hardly 
visible to the naked eye. 
VI. Though this manner of erys- 
talysing sufficiently distinguishes 
the saccharine part of honcy from 
common sugar, I suspected, at first, 
that this difference proceeded. only 
from the presence of some hetero- 
geneous parts, from which the 
honey was not sufficiently cleared ; 
but the following experiments evi- 
dently shewed, that these two sub- 
stances differ from each other by 
properties which are very strongly 
marked. 
1. If acertain quantity of lime- 
water is added to a watery solution 
of the sugar of honey, it instantly 
acquires 2 brown colour, though 
it was before quite limpid and 
colouriess. 
2. Quick lime, which I added 
to the watery solution of sugar of 
x 
honey, while it was upon the fire, 
produced a very strong efferves- 
cence, and the mixture’ immedi- 
ately became of a dark brown 
colour, almost biack. By continn- 
ing to add qvick lime untii the 
effervescence ceased, the sugar of 
honey. was entirely decomposed ; 
the mixture turned quite biack, 
and emitted a smell whieh was. 
very disagreeable, and even nau- 
seous. . 
3. Thedark coloured solution con- 
tains a large quantity of lime, whi h 
cannot be precipitated by means of 
aerated alkali, nor by an alkaliren- 
dered perfeétly caustic. 
"4. if vitriolic acid is made use 
of ‘o precipitate this lime, it then 
appears in the form of gypsum; 
buat the remainder of the liquor sill 
contains a very’ empyreumatic acid, 
which scems to have a strong 
analogy with the malic acid of 
Scheele. 
5. If the acid of sugar of honey is 
treated with nitrous acid, it is con. 
verted into acid of sugar. 
6. A much more pure acid may 
be obtained by making use of a 
double affinity. For this purpose, _ 
it is only necessary to boil together 
equal parts of honey and quick 
lime, in a great quantity of water, 
adding to this solution, which is 
of a brownish colour, as much 
charcoal powder as may be requi- 
site to take away the colour en- 
tirely.. The solution must then be 
filtered, and to the clear liquor 
must be-added, a very saturated so- 
lution of lead in distilled vinegar, 
until all precipitation has ceased. 
The precipitate obtained by these 
means must be washed in’ such a 
quantity of water as will edulcorate 
it thoroughly; after which, as 
~ much 
