424 Conversion of Starch mto Sugar. [Duc. 
of De Bonnueil and Co. was to obtain a patent. But here again 
they met with effectual opposition, no unavailing part of which 
consisted in an instrument, presented in due legal form by Mr, 
Henry individually, against the claim of the petitioners. This 
document, dated July 2, 1788, is now before me, It contains an 
account of the processes then actually practised by Mr. Henry, and 
comprehends every thing at this day known respecting the use of 
the oxymuriatic acid in bleaching, with the exception of the appli- 
cation of lime to the condensation of the gas. ‘This application of 
lime was afterwards made by Mr. Henry, in a way which adapted 
it only to white goods. But, in consequence of a happy invention 
of Mr. Tennant of Glasgow, which may be considered as the last 
step in the improvement of the art, the use of oxymuriate of lime 
was extended, in the year 1798, to fabrics of the most delicate 
colours, and rendered more practicable and advantageous in the 
bleaching of white goods. 
After this statement, I appeal to you, Sir, whether the history 
of the art of bleaching, contained in your Cyclopedia, written by 
one who was perfectly well acquainted with the facts which I have 
alleged, can be considered as any thing but exceedingly unfair and 
partial. And I claim from your known candour and love of justice, 
that the person in whose behalf I stand forward, shall reeeive in 
the subsequent editions of your work, a fair share of credit for his 
prompt and active zeal in furthering a most important invention, 
and in defeating the purposes of those who aimed at rendering it an 
injurious monopoly. 
lam, Rey. Sir, with great respect and regard, 
Your obedient Servant, 
WititiamM Henri: 
ArticLte [X. 
On the Conversion of Starch into Sugar. 
By M. Theodore de Saussure.* 
Tue process, which Mr, Kirchof (Adjunct of the Academy of 
Sciences in Petersbugh) has discovered, of converting starch into 
sugar by long boiling in very diluted sulphuric acid, has been fre- 
quently repeated by chemists, and has been enriched by several 
own private advantage,) was in other respects a powerful auxiliary in prevent- 
ing the monopoly of the foreigners. In another letter to Mr, Henry, dated 
June 8, 178S, he says, *‘ Through the help of my friends, such parliamentary 
interest was made, as must in some degree have contributed to defeat the plagiary 
3ourbollon, whose sole pretensions are founded on his impregnating caustic 
alkalies with the gas, a process previously discovered and publicly mentioned by 
Bertholiet, but laid aside, as it destroys half the efficacy of the acid. 
_* Translated from Gilbert’s Annalen, vol, xlix. p. 129. Feb. 1816, The papes 
appeared. originally in the Bibliotheque Britanaique for 1814, 
