632 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



as ensilage, or may be burned under the boilers, thus furnishing heat, 

 and ashes valuable for fertilizing purposes. 



But of greater value were the practical results obtained by Dr. 

 Collier, with small and inexpensive apparatus, whereby he showed 

 what could actually be done in the production of sugar and sirup from 

 sorghum. These results were of more real importance than were the 

 pretentious attempts made in Washington under the direction of a 

 " practical sugar-boiler " from the West Indies, inasmuch as the latter 

 experiments were made with improper and poorly-finished apparatus, 

 and with sorghum not fully matured. 



These experiments were also vitiated by the incompetence of the 

 sugar-boiler, whose methods were those adapted to sugar-cane, and not 

 varied to suit the different conditions presented when working with 

 sorghum. 



The smaller practical experiments conducted by Dr. Collier have 

 been described in detail by himself, and, with perfect fairness, he has 

 narrated not only successes but failures. All who are accustomed to 

 manufacturing operations are aware that, notwithstanding the appar- 

 ent simplicity of any new problem, the development of a practical 

 working process involves a large amount of patient investigation, fre- 

 quent experiments, and a not inconsiderable number of partial or 

 seeming failures before complete success can be attained. But when 

 such a process is thoroughly elaborated, and all its difficulties are 

 appreciated and overcome, the details of manufacture may be safely 

 intrusted to men of ordinary intelligence. 



In November, 1881, the National Academy of Sciences appointed 

 a special committee which was intrusted with a detailed investigation 

 of the scientific processes, the analytical results, and the practical ex- 

 periments and conclusions presented by Professor Collier. 



All the members of this committee were men of the highest scien- 

 tific ability, men whose reputation is world-wide, and whose conclu- 

 sions must carry conviction. To quote from a recent number of 

 "Science ": "That the work has been well done is sufficiently guaran- 

 teed by the names of the committee. They were Professor William 

 H. Brewer, Ph. D., of the Sheffield Scientific School ; Professor Charles 

 F. Chandler, of Columbia College ; Professor S. W. Johnson, M. A., 

 of the Sheffield Scientific School ; Professor B. Silliman, M. A., M. D., 

 of Yale College ; Professor J. Lawrence Smith, M. D., late of the Uni- 

 versity of Louisville ; and also, not of the Academy, Gideon E. Moore, 

 Ph. D., of New York. Professor C. A. Goessmann, of the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural College, was also a member of and acted with the 

 committee until September 15, 1882, when he resigned." 



The fairness and ability of the committee being unquestioned, it is 

 germane, in this inquiry, to consider what their scrutiny of Dr. Col- 

 lier's work has revealed as to the chances that sorghum may yet prove 

 a valuable source of sugar. The following is taken from their report : 



