418 



SCIENTIFIC RECREATIONS. 



SUGAR exists in fruits, roots, and in the stalks of plants, in the juice 

 of the cane, maple, and beet-root particularly. The canes are crushed, the 

 juice is clarified with lime to prevent fermentation, and the liquid is 

 evaporated. It is then granulated and cleared from the molasses. Sugar, 

 when heated, becomes dark, and is called " caramel." It is used for colour- 

 ing brandy, and gives much difficulty to the sugar refiners. 



Fig. 429. Refining vacuum paii. 



Sugar refining is conducted as follows. The raw (brown) sugar is mixed 

 into a paste with water, and allowed to drain. The sugar thus becomes 

 white. It is then dissolved in water, with animal charcoal and bullocks' 

 blood. The liquid is boiled, and put into a dark cistern with holes at the 

 bottom, and cotton fibres being fastened in the holes, are hung into another 

 dark cistern, into which the liquid runs pure and white. It is then pumped 

 into a copper vessel, vacuum pan, and condensed to the proper con- 

 sistence. Subsequently it 



is poured into conical 



moulds, and pure syrup 



poured upon the crystal 



shapes. The caramel is 



then removed through a 



hole at the end. The 



moulds or loaves are then 



dried, and if not even or 



elegant they are turned 



in a lathe. Finally they 

 are packed up as " loaf sugar." Sugar undergoes no decomposition, and 

 is the cause of non-decomposition in other substances. For this reason it is 

 employed in "preserving" fruit, etc. Sugar is obtained from beet by crush- 

 ing and rasping the roots, as the cane is treated. 



Fig. 430. Sugar moulds. 



Fig 431. Turning the loaves. 



