CHEMICAL COMPOSITION. D5 
sugar in the perfect state ; they are surrounded by an incolorous liquid. 
This fragment has stripes very light and blackish in color. 
Pure sulphuric acid has entirely changed the appearance of the 
fragment which we are studying ; it has taken a blackish color in the 
surface of the crystals, which have become more deep. 
Anhydrous alcohol, added to the mixture, seems to dissect the crys- 
tals. 
An addition of tincture of iodine lessens the coloring. By refrac- 
tion, the crystals are completely white. 
We have taken at the center of a knot, a portion of the substance 
which it contains, seeking to separate, as much as possible, from it the 
filaments which, in this plant, run from the ground to the top of the 
stalk, bending, it must be remarked, at each knot. It is, so to speak, 
compressed, and in the experiments which I have made on these threads, 
they have always broken at this part. 
The portion above mentioned was placed under the microscope. At 
a magnitude of one hundred diameters, it resembled a piece of certain 
plants seen with the naked eye. Placed in concentrated sulphuric 
acid, the specimen becomes broken apart, and takes on a black color, 
bordered by a reddish tint. The cells are apparent, someof them sep- 
arated. Anhydrous alcohol produces no other effect than to detach 
some flakes of cells, and some rare white crystals, the whole floating 
on the liquid. 
We then took a portion of the knot which had served us for the 
above experiments, and placed it in water, but its appearance did 
not change from that of woody fiber, corroded by sulphuric acid. 
A portion of knot which we endeavored to completely isolate from 
the filaments, was magnified to five hundred diameters. Placed in 
contact with sulphuric acid, it was disorganized, numerous cells made 
their appearance, and the whole was colored black, mixed with deep 
yellow ; the addition of anhydrous alcohol has made apparent to us 
woody fiber, in the condition in which it is when it has been in contact 
with sulphuric acid. 
From the experiments which we have thus made, it follows : 
That the Chinese Sugar Care is composed from outside inwards, 
first of a layer of cerosie or wax, avd an inert epidermis. The dermis 
contains gums, filaments, fecula, and some portions of sugar. 
