SUGAR. 237 



It is a kind of honey, gathered and candied 

 in certain canes, which is white and like a 

 gum, but brittle between the teeth." 



The juice or liquor of the cane, being dried 

 or candied in the sun, was called by the an- 

 cient Latin writers, Sal Indum and Saccharum 

 Indum. This appears to have been the ear- 

 liest method of procuring sugar. 



The interpreters of Avicenna and Serapion 

 call sugar Spodium; the Persians, Tabaxir; 

 and the Indians, Mambu. 



Salmasius* assures us, that the Arabs had 

 used the art of making sugar, such as we 

 now have it, above nine hundred years. 



Dr. William Douglas, in his Summary, &c. 

 of the first planting of our American Settle- 

 ment, printed at Boston, in 1751, and re- 

 printed at London in 1755, informs us, that 

 sugar came originally from China, by way of 

 the East Indies and Arabia, into Europe, 

 and was formerly used only in syrups, con- 

 serves, and such Arabian medicinal com- 

 positions. 



" The Romans," says Gerard, " have called 

 this plant Arundo Saccharina, with this addi- 



* Com. de Sacchar. apud Plin. Exercit. vol. ii. p. 257. 

 anno Dom. 1689. 



