C ^ii 3 



IV. Proccfs employed hy Vrofcffor Lampadius for eX' 

 tra£lms[ Sugai' from H'^hlte Beet-root * . 



I 



N the month of January 1799, Profeffbr Lanipadius, hav- 

 ing learned that Mr. Achard had extrafted fugar from the 

 white beet. Beta clcla Linn., rcfolved to try an experiment 

 of the hke kind, and from a quintal of '•'Ipeet-roots obtained 

 four pounds of fugar by the following procefs : — He took a 

 hundred pounds of the roots, peeled them, and having freed 

 them from the ligneous parts, rafped them and exprelTed the 

 juice : the quantity of the juice obtaiined was 44 pounds. He 

 put the juice into a copper pan, brought fome charcoal to a 

 ftate of ignition in the fire, broke it into fmall fragments of 

 the fize of a pea, throwing afide the duft, which would have 

 coloured the fugar, and put forty-four ounces of it into the 

 juice. He theti boiled the whole for a quarter of an hour, 

 ftralned it through a piece of flannel clolhj and, after being 

 filtered, placed it again over the fire to bring it to the con-* 

 fiflcnce of fyrup. It is on this operation that the luccefs of 

 the cryftaliifation chiefly depends, When the juice had ac- 

 ■quired the proper confiftence, he put it into a cool place and 

 left it there for the fpace of fifteen days : a cryflallifation was 

 produced, and at the end of that time the juice had become 

 like thick fyrup, and of a brown colour. On taking up a 

 little of it between the fingers, the crvfials were felt in the 

 form of fmall grains. ProfeflTor Lampadius then {trained the 

 fvrup through a piece of linen cloth, fqueezing it very clofely. 

 The cryfiali which remained behind were put into lime-water 

 mixed with a pound of ox's blood, the whole was placed over 

 the fire, alld during the ebullition care was taken to fkim the 

 mixture well. It was afterwards filtered through a piece of 

 flannel, and left to cryftallife. At the end of forty-eight 

 hours, being thrown uppn a linen cloth, ti)c cryfials which 

 remained were not of fo brown a colour as thofc firft obtained, 

 2nd appeared to be of a larger fize. They were again boiled 

 in lime-water w 1th a pound of milk ; the matter which floated 

 at the furface was fkimmed ofl', and the. cryftals obtained 



* From die "journal dc Pbyfiqiie, Prairial, an, S. 



Vol. \'1I. R were 



