OTHER AGENTS IX DEFECATION. 299 



In considering tlie results of the above experiments, it uill he ob- 

 served that, iu the series of the first experiment, where no lime was 

 added, there was a continuous increase in the amount of glucose, and 

 a decrease in tlie amount of sucrose, as the result of the boiling. After 

 an interval of two hours, the actual loss in sucrose was only .09 gram, 

 while the increase iu the glucose was .64 gram.; but the .09 gram, su- 

 crose would furnish, by its inversion, only .0947 -|- gram, of glucose, 

 which is much less than the gain shown. It is probable that the com- 

 mercial glucose was composed of other compounds largely intermediate 

 between starch and glucose — compounds which would have no effect 

 upon Fehling's solution, but which, by boiling, were readily converted 

 into glucose, or some copper-reducing compound. 



The general result, however, is manifest, viz : the rapid and con- 

 tinuous inversion of the sucrose present, until, at the close of the ex- 

 periment, sample 11 showed no sucrose present, and an increase of over 

 800 per cent in the amount of glucose. 



The increase in the acidity of the solution is noticeable, amounting 

 to 800 per cent, and determined by the amount of lime required to 

 neutralize the solution, 1,000 c. c. requiring at the beginning only 

 .004 gram., but at the end of the experiment .032 gram. This increase 

 was by no means constant, but was most marked after about eleven 

 hours' boiling. 



In the series of experiments Xo. 2, where a small ami>unt of lime 

 was added to the solution, the solution, at first alkaline, becomes, after 

 about nine hours' biiling, slightly acid, aud this acidity increases 

 steadily to the end of the experiment, until, at the end of thirty-five 

 hours' boiling, the amount of lime necessary to restore neutrality is 

 twice as much as that originally added to the solution. After the so- 

 lution had become distinctly acid, the inversion of the sugar became 

 much more rapid. 



Also, during the earlier periods of this experiment the amount of 

 glucose increases but slightly, although there is a gradual decrease of 

 sucrose. This is doubtless due to the fact, that the action of the lime 

 is mainly exerted in the destruction of glucose, as has been shown in 

 my reports to be true in experiments in sugar making from soryhuni 

 aud maize juices. 



The practical point, however, to be observed is, that, so long as the 

 solution remained distinctly alkaline, there was but very slight loss in 

 sugar and slight increase in glucose, two desirable conditions in the 

 economical production of sugar from sorghum. And so soon as tins 

 alkalinity was destroyed, through the formation of acid products during 

 the boiling, the inversion of sugar became rapid, and the accumulation 



