76 SUGAR 



of her yield of sugar from the roots. In beetroot 

 sugar there is no glucose, but in the molasses there is 

 some invert sugar, the product of injury to the syrup 

 during the manufacture. The reason why there is 

 molasses is the presence of salts. The theory is that 

 these salts prevent a certain quantity of sugar from 

 crystallizing, and that is the sugar which is held in sus- 

 pension by the salts in the final syrup, called exhausted 

 molasses. It was much discussed, some fifty years 

 ago, what this melassigenic power, as the French called 

 it, amounted to. The theoretical figure was that one 

 per cent, of ash prevented 3-5 per cent, of sugar from 

 crystallizing. But practically the figure 5 has been 

 adopted as the coefficient. A raw beetroot sugar which 

 contains, by the polariscope, 94 per cent, of sugar, 

 and 1-2 per cent, of ash, as determined by incinerating 

 a weighed portion of the sugar, moistened with sulphuric 

 acid, in a platinum dish, is estimated to yield 94 

 (1 -2x5) = 88 per cent, of pure sugar. Beetroot sugar 

 is now bought and sold on this basis of 88 per cent, 

 net analysis, as ascertained by this system, the invoice 

 price being raised or lowered, per degree or fraction 

 of degree, according to the actual analysis of the sugar 

 delivered. On the other hand, cane sugar is bought 

 and sold, basis 96 polarization, that is the actual quantity 

 of sugar, as determined by the polariscope, contained 

 in the raw " centrifugal " sugar. And, in the same 

 way, muscovado sugar is sold, basis 89 polarization ; 

 the degrees, up and down, being charged or allowed 

 for in the invoice of the actual sugar delivered. 



Cane juice contains a certain quantity of glucose, 

 and this is increased during the manufacture. At one 

 time it was thought that the presence of this glucose, 

 as it may be called roughly, prevented a certain quantity 

 of sugar from crystallizing. This has been shown, by 



