360 ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. 



juice or sap, commonly contain cane sugar. The 

 sweetness of honey is due to grape sugar. This va- 

 riety is much Jess valuable than that of the cane, from 

 the fact that it has but little more than one-third of its 

 sweetening effect. 



908. CANE SUGAR. The sugar in com- 



Whot is said . . . . ' , 



of the compo- nion use is principally derived from the 

 su g ar cane > an( l thence receives its distinc- 



trndMt 



artifidal pro- tive name. It differs in its composition 



duction f f -i -i 



from starch, wood, and gum, in containing 

 a single additional molecule of water, while grape sugar 

 contains four. It would seem from this com- 

 position, that it would be more easily produced 

 by artificial means, from starch and similar 

 substances. But this is not the fact. No 

 modification of the process above described, 

 has as yet been devised by which starch and wood can 

 be induced to take one additional atom of water, in- 

 stead of four. Such a process would be a discovery 

 of the greatest importance, as it would enable us to con- 

 vert our potatoe and grain fields at will, into sugar 

 plantations, and make us independent of foreign sup- 

 plies. The figure represents a crystal of cane sugar. 

 The form belongs to the fourth system. 



909. OCCURRENCE. Cane sugar is 



What are the . . 



principal principally produced from the sugar cane, 



from beets ' and the American maple. But 

 it is contained in smaller quantity in the 

 sap of most plants, and in all fruits and vegetables 

 which are not acid to the taste. The production of 

 beet sugar in Europe, in 1850, was estimated at 190,000 



