266 On the Fermentation and 
Margraaf extracted sugar from most vegetables, 
but it is more completely formed in some plants than 
in others, such as the arundo saccharifera, and the 
acer saccharinum. Manna is obtained from the 
leaves of fir, oak, juniper, and the maple-tree. The 
ash, which is very plenteous in Calabria and Sicily, 
affords that which is commonly sold both in flakes 
and in tears. It affords, by distillation, the same 
products as sugar. The analogy between saccharine 
matter, mucilages, and gums, is deducible from their 
containing the radical principle, which, in combina- 
tion with oxygen, constitutes the oxalic acid; and 
amylaceous fecula is only a slight alteration of mu- 
cilage, which may be converted into saccharine 
matter by germination. Saccharine matter must, 
therefore, be considered as one of the immediate 
principles of vegetables, formed by the natural pro- 
gress of vegetation. 
In order to prepare barley for germination, it 
must be fully saturated with water, which generally 
requires it to be completely covered for sixty hours, 
After it is fully saturated, it must be removed; not 
only for fear of injuring the texture of the grain, 
but to prevent the water from robbing the barley of 
its most valuable quality: an occurrence which in 
some degree takes place by an ordinary and proper 
steeping. ‘This is a fact not generally understood, 
however, it may be easily proved by subjecting the 
cold infusion of barley to fermentation, whereby 
a te 
