SUGAR 83 



ttiem from these is the business of the European sugar-bakers. A 

 new solution ; clarification with alkaline substances fitted to attract 

 away the oil, acid, and other contaminating matters ; slow evapo- 

 ration : and a final cooling in suitable moulds ; are the processes 

 which at last produce loaves of white sugar. 



The melasses being nothing else than a very impure refuse of the 

 sugar from which they drip, are susceptible of being employed in 

 a new ebullition, by which a second quantity of sugar may be ob- 

 tained from them. The remainder of the melasses is employed to 

 yield rum by distillation. 



In rum, alcohol is mixed with oil, water, oxalic acid, and a 

 mixture of empyreumatic matter. The French prepare, from the 

 mixture of melasses with water, a species of wine of good quality. 

 In its preparation, the solution is brought into fermentation, then 

 passed through strainers to purify it, then put in casks ; after clear- 

 ing itself in these, transferred into others, in which it is to be pre- 

 served for use. The ratio of these processes is clear and harmonious; 

 they are all directed to purify the sugar from contaminating mix- 

 tures, and to reduce it into that state of dryness or crystallization, 

 in which it is susceptible of being the Inost conveniently preserved 

 for agreeable use. The heat in general acts both mechanically to 

 effect a sufficient dissolution of the aggregation of the parts of the 

 cane juice, and chemically, to produce in it new combinations into 

 which caloric must enter as an ingredient. The first gentle heat is 

 intended chiefly to operate with the mechanical influence, raising to 

 the surface impurities which are more easily removed by skimming 

 than by any other means ; a gentle, not a violent heat, is in this 

 instance employed, because a violent heat would produce empy- 

 reumatic salts, the production of which is to be carefully avoided. 

 A boiling heat is, in the continuation of the processes, made use of, 

 because, after the first impurities have been skimmed of, contami- 

 nating empyreumatic salts are less readily formed, because a boiling 

 heat is necessary to effect a complete development of the saccha- 

 rine matter, and because the gradual concentration of the sugar is, 

 by such a heat, to be best accomplished. Lime is employed, because 

 it has a stronger affinity than sugar with all the contaminating mat- 

 ters, and particularly, because it attracts into a neutral combination 

 thatexces of ^oxalic acid which is apt to exist in the saccharine so- 

 lution. Skimming removes the new salts which the most easily a 

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