22 



PROCESS OF CONVElt'lING BEKTS INTO SUGAR. 



Another Process is Ikus described: 



Bullion La Grange's Melliod. 



Some starch is first well washed with 

 rohl water to remove any accidental sac- 

 chniine or extractive matter, and well 

 (liied. Two kilogrammes of this starch 

 lubbed down with eight kilogrammes of 

 river water acitlulatcd with forty grammes 

 oi' concentrated sulphutic acid, are boiled 

 lor thiity-six hours in a silver basin. For 

 the first hour the mixture is stirred con- 

 htaiitly to keep it from burning, but after- 

 wai'ds, as it becomes thinner, only occa- 

 sionally. Water is from time to time 

 to be added, to supply the waste by 

 boiling. After boiling, the whole is 

 clarified with charcoal and chalk, and 

 filtrated through a woollen cloth. The li- 

 quor is then evaporated nearly to a syrup, 

 and let cool, to allow some of (he sulphate 

 of lime to settle; after which the clear 

 syrup is boiled down to a thick consis- 

 tence. This syrup is much clearer and 

 sweeter when prepared in a silver vessel 

 than in one of tinned copper; indeed, the 

 latter material can hardly be used on ac- 

 count of the action of the acid upon the 

 tin by the long boiling; but a leaden, boil- 

 er muy be employed with advantage. The 

 quantity of rich syrup given in this pro- 

 cess is about equal to that of the starch 

 employed; and M. Vogel obtained the 

 same results with twice the proportion of 

 acid and only eight hours boiling. As 

 several vegetable substances have a deci- 

 dedl};^ sweet taste but without containing 

 an)' real sugar that can be extracted from 

 them, M. Vogel tried to produce the vi- 

 nous fermentation in the starch sugar. A 

 quantity of it was mixed with warm water 

 and leaven, the fermentation soon took 

 place, much carbonic acid was given out, 

 and the fermented liquor gave by distilla- 

 tion, a sensible quantity of alcohol. The 

 most highly saccharine starch syrup, slow- 

 ly stoved in tin plate moulds, gave a per- 

 fectly transparent elastic matter like the 

 paste of jujubes, which attracted moisture 

 from the air. A similar saccharine gummy 

 mass was obtained from potato starch. 

 This mass was further analysed by boiling 

 with alcohol, which left undissolved about 

 a fifth of the whole as a very viscous mat- 

 ter, that became friable when dry, and 

 pgain dissolved by cold water into a thick 

 jnucilage insoluble in alcohol. In these 



properties it closely resembled gum-arabic 

 but differed from this gum in not forming 

 the mucous acid when treated with nitric 

 acid. The gummy matter of the starch 

 syrup has been considered by some as a 

 compound of starch, water and sulphuric 

 acid; but JM. Vogel shows clearly that it 

 does not contain any of this acid, neither, 

 indeed, does the saccharine part, soluble 

 in alcohol, give any indications of sulphu- 

 ric acid. These experiments led the au- 

 thor to examine the action of the diluted 

 mineral acids upon other substances. Su- 

 gar of milk was selected, as being in its 

 natural state incapable of entering into the 

 vinous fermentation: one hundred gram- 

 mes of sugar of milk were boiled for three 

 hours with four hundred gramn)es of wa- 

 ter and two grammes of strong sulphuric 

 acid, adding water to supply the waste. 

 The excess of acid was then neutralized 

 by chalk, and the liquor when strained 

 was clear, but slightly coloured. Slowly 

 evaporating, it left a thick brown syrup 

 which in a few days thickened to a crys- 

 talline mass of a rich sweet taste, much 

 more than the sugar of milk itself^ and. 

 soluble in alcohol, in which too it diflfers 

 from sugar of milk. This crystalline mass 

 very readily entered into fermentation, 

 when properly diluted, and the fermented 

 liquor yielded a considerable proportion 

 of alcohol. The experiment was repeated 

 with 3, 4, and 5 parts of sulphuric acid, 

 and with equal success, the crj'stalline 

 mass being always highly saccharine and 

 fermentable. 



Muriatic acid was found to have the same 

 efiect with the Sulphuric, in changing the 

 sugar of milk into an extremely rich, 

 sweet, fermentable syrup. — Nitric Acid 

 on the other hand, and radical vinegar, 

 produce no change. — Such are the facts of 

 the singular conversion of starch or sugar 

 of milk into an intensely sweet fermentable 

 saccharine mass, though it does not appear 

 that perfect crystallized sugar has yet 

 been obtained in this way. The theory of 

 this operation is very difficult of explana- 

 tion. Some have thought that the mere 

 continuance of heat efiected the change, 

 but the author boiled starch and water alone 

 for four successive days, and at the end, a 

 very liquid mass was obtained, which 

 when slowly dried left a thick bitter mu- 

 cilage without the smallest saccharine 



