808 



SUGAR. 



can be named, which is universally acceptable to the 

 infant and the aged, the civilized and the savage. 



The population of the British West Indies is 

 equal to that of Cuba ; but their consumption of 

 sugar was, in 1827, only 13,000,000 Ibs. , eighteen 

 pounds to an inhabitant, while that of Cuba was, 

 in the same year, 44,000,000 Ibs., or sixty-three 

 Ibs. to an inhabitant. This difference is presumed 

 to be owing to the predominance of the iree over 

 the slave population, in the latter island. The 

 ratio of the free population of Cuba to the slave, 

 is three to one ; but in the British West Indies, 

 one to three. This proportion would give the 

 iliil'iTi'iu-e of the quantities of sugar consumed, with 

 almost entire accuracy. 



The population of all the sugar growing countries 

 in the world is about 468,000,000. It is not to be 

 presumed, that each individual of this number con- 

 sumes as much as the luxurious West Indian ; but 

 it will not be extravagant to suppose, that they all 

 consume as largely as the Mexicans. Mexico, by 

 the lowness of wages, and the ignorance and po- 

 verty of the mass, may be considered as a fair re- 

 presentative of the nations inhabiting that belt of 

 the earth, which produces sugar-canes. She con- 

 sumes, according to M. Humboldt, ten pounds to 

 an inhabitant, all of domestic production. We 

 thus determine proximately, that the consumption 

 of the other Hispano- American nations, and of the 

 swarms which people the East, is 5,000,000,000 

 Ibs. per annum, nearly four times as much as is 

 used in Europe and the United States. Great 

 Britain consumes 400,000,000 Ibs., about twenty- 

 four pounds to each inhabitant; the United States 

 200,000,000 Ibs., sixteen pounds to an inhabitant. 

 In Ireland, the consumption is 40,000,000 Ibs., 

 live pounds to an individual. In Russia, it is 

 much less, being but a little more than one pound 

 to a person, and 60,000,000 in the whole, unless 

 the article be introduced inland from China, by 

 way of Kiachta, as to some extent it probably is. 

 Of the quantity consumed in Russia, we suppose 

 8,000,000 Ibs. to be beet sugar. Belgium con- 

 sumes 30,000,000 Ibs., seven pounds to an inhabi- 

 tant, of which 5,000,000 Ibs. are beet ; and Prus- 

 sia, Austria, and the rest of Germany, 200,000,000 

 Ibs., of which 20,000,000 Ibs. may be beet. This 

 is four pounds and a half to an inhabitant. Holland 

 consumes 50,000,000 Ibs., sixteen pounds to an 

 inhabitant; Spain, the same, which is but four 

 pounds to an inhabitant; France, 230,304,549 

 Ibs., seven pounds to each inhabitant. Of this, 

 107,905,785 Ibs. were, in 1836, made from beet- 

 root. With the exception of a few manufactories 

 in Italy, the above figures show the extent of the 

 beet-sugar culture. Thus we have, for the total 

 consumption of sugar in Europe, 1,267,000,000 

 Ibs., of which 140,000,000 or 62,500 tons, are 

 beet sugar ; and, for the total consumption through- 

 out the world, 6,267,000,000 Ibs. 



It is now nearly a hundred years since Margraff, 

 a Prussian chemist, residing at Berlin, made the 

 discovery, that the beet contained a good crystal- 

 iizable sugar. His attention was first drawn to 

 this subject by the saccharine taste of the beet, 

 and the crystalline appearance of its flesh, when 

 examined with a microscope. Having cut the 

 beet into thin slices, he dried perfectly, and then 

 pulverized them. To eight ounces of the powder 

 he added twelve of highly rectified spirits of wine, 

 and expose'd the mixture to a gentle heat in a 

 sand bath. As soon as the liquid reached the 



boiling point, he removed it from the fire, and fil- 

 tered it into a flask, which he corked up, and left 

 to itself. In a few weeks, he perceived that crys- 

 tals were formed, which exhibited all the physical 

 and chemical properties of the sugar-canes. The 

 alcohol still contained sugar in solution, and a 

 resinous matter, which he disengaged by evapora- 

 tion. Having submitted several other vegetable 

 substances (as parsnips, skerret, and dried grapes) 

 to the same treatment, he obtained sugar from 

 each. In 1747, be addressed to the academy of 

 Berlin a memoir, entitled, " Chemical Experiments, 

 made with a view to extract genuine Sugar from 

 several plants which grow in these Countries." 



Margraff solved the important problem, that 

 genuine sugar was not confined to the cane. After 

 this, he enlarged and varied his experiments, but 

 did not invent means of making sugar from the 

 new material on a scale sufficiently large to render 

 it an object of interest to capitalists. Yet he 

 seems to have had a prescience, that his discovery 

 would one day assume importance. He com- 

 mended it to the attention of the Prussian culti- 

 vators, and particularly the small farmers, as offer- 

 ing a new and beneficial branch of agriculture. 



Margraff died in 1782. He was a member of 

 the academy of Berlin, director of the class of 

 natural philosophy, and fellow of the academy of 

 sciences at Paris. His works were collected and 

 published in two volumes, octavo, in French, 1767. 

 A German translation was published at Leipsic, 

 the following year. 



It was Achard, also a chemist of Berlin, who 

 discovered the method of extracting the sugar from 

 the beet on a large scale, and at a moderate 

 expense. He first announced this result in 1797. 

 In 1799, a letter from him was inserted in the 

 Annales de Chimie, in which he detailed his 

 method. He there states the cost at twopence 

 the pound of Silesia, or about threepence the 

 pound avoirdupois, without counting the benefit 

 to be derived from the residuums. He also ex- 

 pressed the opinion, that, with these included, and 

 with some improvements in the processes, this 

 sugar might be produced at half that price. This 

 announcement caused a great sensation in France. 

 It engrossed the attention of the Parisian world ; 

 eliciting, alternately, ridicule and admiration. The 

 high price to which sugar had risen in France, in 

 consequence of the capture of nearly all her colon- 

 ial possessions, gave something more than a specu- 

 lative and passing interest to the ideas of Achard. 

 The National Institute appointed a commission to 

 examine the subject. The result of their investi- 

 gation was, that the cost of raw sugar of the beet 

 would be eightpence a pound. The price of sugar 

 was such, that even at that rate a very large profit 

 might have been cleared ; but this consideration 

 was not sufficient to induce many persons to take 

 the risk of a peace with England, supposed at that 

 time to be approaching. Only two establishments 

 were formed ; one at St Quen, and the other at 

 Chelles, in the environs of Paris. Both of them 

 were failures ; partly from the bad quality of their 

 beets, and partly from the ignorance and inexperi- 

 ence of the conductors and workmen. With them 

 went down the high hopes, which had arisen, of 

 this new branch of industry in France. 



It is difficult to sny, whether these hopes would 

 ever have been resuscitated, if political events of 

 an overruling nature had not supervened. By the 

 Berlin and Milan decrees, all colonial articles were 



