762 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE'. 



and is general!}^ refined over, the following year, with fresh juice, 

 in -which it is dissolved. The molasses, remaining behind at the 

 last operation, contains 35 to 40 per cent of salts, chiefl}^ potash; it 

 tastes bitter and acid, and is unfit for sweetening purposes. It is 

 mostly used by distillers, who again sell their exhausted mash 

 for the manufacture of potash. In some places it is used as 

 manure for beet fields with excellent success. The molasses is 

 kept in holes, on those fields, over the summer, but towards fall 

 these holes become covered sometimes by a deposit of brown 

 sngar, which is collected and worked over, while any liquid por- 

 tion is mixed with the soil, returning the substances taken away 

 with the previous harvest. 



These after-products, when boiled down to sugar, are boiled to 

 a less concentration than fresh juice, in order to facilitate the 

 separation of the impure molasses in claying. The latter is chiefly 

 done in centrifuges for these inferior qualities of sugar, while 

 ordinary good sugars are clayed in forms, generally in a vacuum. 



The manufacture of beet sugar is not by any means perfect yet. 

 When Achard ol^tained two per cent of sugar from the beet, he 

 considered himself doing well. Now, with improved machinery 

 and better cultivated beets, from six to nine per cent is produced, 

 which still leaves three to four per cent to be gained by improved 

 methods of working. 



Adjourned. 



American Institute Polytechnic Association, ? 

 February lUh, 1867. ] 



Prof S. D. Tillman, Chairman ; T. D. Stetson, Esq., Secretary. 



The following scientific items were read b}' the chairman : 



Substitute for Lint. 

 It is stated that the surgeons of Vienna have used with success, 

 soft, white, unsized paper in dressing wounds. It is a non-con- 

 ductor of heat, and, owing to its absorbent nature, wounds are 

 kept comparatively dry, and in a favorable state for healing. 



Deep Artesian Wells. 

 The artesian wells of Grenelle and Passy now emit volumes of 

 vapor. The temperature of the waters, rising from a depth of 

 2,300 feet, is 80 degrees Fah., while that of the atmosphere at 

 night is only 35 or 3(3 degrees. 



