SUGAR 665 



in the formation of fat, and Pasteur states that they 

 furnish glycerin the basis of neutral fats. For nutritive 

 purposes seventeen parts (Voit) to twenty-three parts 

 (Rubner) of carbo-hydrates are equivalent to ten parts 

 of fat. 



As a demulcent and emollient, starch mucilage protects 

 and softens irritable surfaces. In diarrhoea and dysentery 

 it is used about the consistence of cream, at the temperature 

 of 100 Fahr., either alone or with laudanum, sugar of lead, 

 or other astringent, and is given both by the mouth and 

 rectum. It is an antidote to excessive doses of iodine. 

 Dry starch readily absorbs water, and hence is a desiccant 

 for wounds, forming a protective covering. Mixed with 

 equal parts of zinc oxide, it dries and soothes the weeping 

 earlier stages of eczema. Conjoined with carbolic acid, or 

 boric acid and iodoform, it forms a convenient desiccant 

 antiseptic. One part of starch, heated with five of glycerin 

 and three of water, make a soothing demulcent. Starch is 

 used for mixing and subdividing medicines, and as a vehicle 

 for their administration. Dextrin and starch are employed 

 to stiffen bandages for fractures and other surgical pur- 

 poses. A mixture of dextrin 100 parts, water 50, spirit 

 of camphor 50, is used for adhesive plasters. 



SUGAR 



Sugar exists in many plants ; is prepared in France and 

 Germany from white beet, in Asia from various palms, 

 and in America from sugar maple (Sorghum saccharatum), 

 and maize. The sugar used in this country is chiefly got 

 from the sugar-cane (Saccharum officinarum), which is 

 extensively cultivated in the West Indies, has a perennial 

 root, and a jointed annual stem six to twelve feet high. 

 These canes are crushed between heavy rollers ; the pale 

 green expressed juice, which contains nearly twenty per cent, 

 of sugar, is mixed with a little slaked lime to neutralise 

 acids and precipitate albuminoids, and concentrated in 

 shallow vacuum pans at a temperature not exceeding 140 

 Fahr. ; the coagulating albumin, entangling impurities, is 

 skimmed off ; the syrup is cooled in wooden vats, and dried 



