JULY 1, 1895.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



115 



■^^ 



sjOWLEOC 



AN ILLUSTRATED 



'^ 



MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE 



SIMPLY WORDED— EXACTLY DESCRIBED 



LONDON : Jl'LY 1, 1895. 



CONTENTS. 



The Sugar Cane. Bv L'.A. Barber, M.A.,F.L S.(/i/«rfratoO 

 Spectrum Analysis. Bv .1. J. Stewart. B.A CauUib . 



li.Sc.Loiul. 

 Scorpions and their Antiquity. By E. Lydekkek, 



B.A. Cantab, F.K.S. (lib' strafed) 



Some Planetary Configurations. B_v Liout.-Col. li. E. 



.MarKWICE. (lUii-strafeJ) 



The Diameter of the Field of View of a Telescope. By 



■JiioArAS ir. Blakesiev 

 Dr Roberts Photographs of Star-Clusters and Nebulae 

 The Great Nubecula. By E. Walter JIauxdek, F.K.A.S. 



Science Notes 



Letters :—M. A. Veeder; H. Cobber ; HexevJ. Slack: 



(l[i>s) E. Bkowx; AV 51. Miller 



Notices of Books 



On the Cause of Earthquakes. By Prof. J.LouA.v Lojilet, 



F.GS., &C-. 



The Effects of Lightning on Trees. 

 The Cure for Snake-Bites. By Dr. 



E.R.S.E 



Organic Matter and Water Filters 

 Some Recent Patents. {Illusfrafed) 

 The Face of the Sky for July 



Sadler, F.R.A.S 



Chess Column. By C. D. Locock, B.A.Oxon. 



(Illustrated) 



J. U. McBuEUsox, 



By Herbert 



PASB 



1 

 149 



1.50 



152 



1.54 

 1.5.5 

 156 

 157 



15S 

 160 



161 

 162 



164 

 165 

 166 



166 

 167 



By C. 



THE SUGAR CANE. 



A. Barber, M.A., F.L.S. {latf StijieriiitemUnt of 

 A(jricuUiire of the Leeuard Islands). 



IN the year 1892 the world's production of sugar was 

 estimated at close on fifty million hundredweight. It 

 may be broadly stated that of this quantity half is 

 obtained from the sugar cane grown in the tropics, 

 and half is extracted from the beet-root of the tem- 

 perate region. Sugar is also produced from sorghum, the 

 maple, several palms, and from starch ; but these sources 

 may be neglected in a general estimate. 



The consumption of sugar varies very greatly in difi'erent 

 countries. Thus it is calculated that the inhabitants of 

 Great Britain and Ireland require seventy- two pounds per 

 bead annually, the quantities used by other countries being 

 fifty-two pounds in the United States, twenty-five pounds 

 in France, and only seventeen pounds in (Germany. To us, 

 then, as a nation, the physiological action of sugar upon 

 the system is a matter of considerable importance. When 

 first introduced into Europe it played a prominent part in 



medicine, and it would be interesting to turn up the old 

 medical works to see what it was used for. 



To-day it is a conspicuous article in our diet, and its 

 true value as a nutritive substance is becoming more and 

 more widely i-ecognized. Interesting experiments have 

 quite recently been carried out in schools, as to the etfect 

 of adding several ounces of sugar daily to the diet of the 

 boys ; the result being that they are found to be capable 

 of performing an increased amount of muscular exercise. 

 Be that as it may, the efiect of unlimited quantities of 

 sugar cane juice upon the labourers on West Indian estates 

 is seen every time the crop is reaped. However weak and 

 starved-looking the negroes are when the first canes are 

 cut, they rapidly improve in condition : and, although the 

 labour in the field is exceedingly heavy, towards the end of 

 crop-time they are conspicuously sleek and well-fed. 

 They are daily met carrying home a fine cane or two upon 

 their heads as perquisites. 



Wray, a writer upon the sugar cane, asserts that it 

 has been absolutely proved that man can not only exist 

 but become stout and healthy on 

 sugar, and sugar alone. He in- 

 stances the case of the crew of a 

 ship bringing home a cargo of sugar 



from the tropics. By calms and 



disasters, provisions ran short and 



were at last absolutely exhausted. 



The starving crew had recourse to 



their cargo of sugar. This not only 



sustained the men, but actually 



cured them of the scurvy which 



had made sad havoc among them. 



Supplied by this providential food, 



they reached their port in safety. 

 Of the main sources of sugar 



supply, the beet-root was first grown 



for this purpose barely one hundred 



years ago, while the cultivation of 



the cane is known to have been 



carried on before the Christian era. 



We Imow that several centuries 



before Christ the cane juice was 



sucked or expressed in India, 



although the art of making solid 



sugar seems to have been discovered 



much later. The plant is not known 



to occur wild in any part of the 



world — a fact which, of itself, points 



to great antiquity — and it is accord- 

 ingly diflicult to determine its 



original habitat. The name is, 



however, derived from the Sanscrit 



Sarluni, and more recently the 



Arab Sukliar ; and from this and 



other facts, it is deemed likely that 



the plant was originally obtained 



from the coast of India north of the Indian Ocean, or 



from the mountams of Polynesia in the neighbourhood 



of the tropics. 



Unknown to the ancient Jews, who used honey for the 



sweetening of their food, it was first used in Europe by 



Alexander the Great, who, in 327 b.c, brought it as one 



of his trophies from the East. Thus Pliny relates that 



Alexander found " a remarkable kind of reed, growing in 



India, which produced a sort of honey without the 



assistance of bees.'' 



The cultivation was introduced into Persia about 500 



A.D.. and great attention was at once paid to the manu- 

 facture of this valuable substance. We read now for the 



Fig. 1. — Two Joiuts of 

 a C'aledouian Queen Cane 

 from St. Kitts. 



