of Sugar in France. 417 
be well stirred, that it may be completely mixed. In order to 
ascertain that there is no excess of lime or of acid in the liquor, 
it may be tried upon paper coloured with turnsole or curcuma. 
It is best to suffer the excess of lime to remain, and to employ 
no more of the acid, the moment that it gives to the curcuma 
paper a tint of a pale brick or deep white wine colour. After 
this operation, three per cent. of animal charcoal, well pounded 
to an impalpable powder, is mixed with the liquor, and imme- 
diately afterwards is added half of the charcoal that was used the 
evening before. ; 
It has been observed that chareoal which comes from the pre- 
paration of prussian blue produces a better effect than that which 
proceeds from the distillation of animal matters in the manu- 
factories of sal-ammoniac, which seems to retain the state of ex- 
treme division that is effected by the calcination; for it is ascer- 
tained that animal charcoal produces a greater effect in propor- 
tion as it is more attenuated and divided by pounding. M. Fi- 
guier of Montpellier was the first who discovered the superiority 
of animal charcoal to that of wood for decolorating liquids; and 
M. Derosne’s application of it to the syrup of beet-root is so 
much the happier, as this charcoal, besides its property of de- 
colorating, destroys the bad effects of the lime, and gives greater 
facility to the boiling. 
After the last addition of charcoal the liquid is evaporated 
till it has acquired the consistence of from 15 to 20 degrees ; it 
is then made to run into a smaller and deeper boiler, and is left 
at rest till the next day, when the boiling of the syrup is ef- 
fected. 
The Boiling and Refining. 
The operation of boiling the syrup is the most delicate of 
any; but it has been rendered extremely easy by the improve- 
ments that have taken place in the preparatory operations, es- 
pecially since the use of animal charcoal has been introduced. 
Many manufacturers have failed in boiling the syrup ; and that 
which should be attributed to a bad manipulation, has generally 
been supposed to be owing sometimes to the non-existence of 
sugar in the beet, and sometimes to the almost insurmountable 
difficulty of extracting it. Now, this operation is become so 
easy that scum rises ; it never burns during the boiling, and re- 
quires very little more care on the part of the workman who 
conducts it, 
Previous to the boiling, the concentrated juice made the even- 
ing before, and which still retains some degree of heat, is fil- 
tered through a coarse piece of woollen cloth; it is then poured 
into a round boiler, two feet in diameter and eighteen inches 
Vol. 47. No, 218, June 1816, Dd deep, 
