BEET ROOT SUGAR. 205 



brunfaut says, the lime should not be slacked until it 

 is weighed. 



The sulphuric acid in its natural state is too strong, 

 and requires five or six times the quantity of water 

 before it can be used. The mixture is made in buck- 

 ets made of wood, with copper hoops. No metallic 

 vessel save a golden one, and that is too expensive, 

 can be used ; as the acid would decompose the me- 

 tal, and form a sulphate of iron, of copper, &c. 



An instrument is necessary to stir the syrup in the 

 boiler, and this should be a round stick, at the end of 

 which should be fastened a round boaid one foot in 

 diameter, which should be full of holes 



The next things enumerated, are a plated spoon 

 and a saucer, which are for the purpose of examining 

 the syrup. The spoon must always be clean and 

 bright, as the clarifier can more easily tell when the 

 process is complete. The saucer should .be white, 

 as it is used for the purpose of ascertaining when the 

 syrup has a superabundance of alkali and acid. 



The skimmer should be eight inches in diameter. 

 It is not always necessary to skim the boiling syrup, 

 and especially when precipitation is going on, for 

 then the scum prevents the fluid from cooling too rap- 

 idly. 



The filtre should be made of coarse cloth or can- 

 vas. 



I shall now give M. Houdart's method or process 

 of defacation, in a quotation from a work on the man- 

 18 



