64 HUDDART. 



from the many improvements which he introduced into the old 

 processes for the refinement of this most important article of com- 

 merce, and especially by his invention of the vacuum-pan. 



It is related, on the authority of the late Mr. C. Few, that Mr. 

 Howard's attention was drawn towards this subject by Mr. Charles 

 Ellis, who, on the occasion of an immense quantity of West India 

 sugar being in bond, and for which the revenue could find no 

 market, recommended Howard, whose talents as a practical chemist 

 Mr. Ellis was well acquainted with, to try and see if he could not 

 relieve the Government warehouses, by converting the raw sugar 

 into some kind of manure, and thus avoid the duty and render the 

 article saleable. While experimenting for this purpose, Mr. Howard 

 accidentally discovered his process of purifying sugar, for which, in 

 conjunction with certain sugar refiners, he took out patents, and 

 ultimately realized a considerable fortune. 



Howard's vacuum-pan was patented in 1812 ; it depends for its 

 action on the principle that liquids boil at temperatures dependent 

 on the pressures they have to sustain. Thus water, under the 

 ordinary pressure of the atmosphere (30 inches barometer), boils at 

 212 F., whereas in vacuo it will boil at about 80 ; consequently a 

 comparatively low temperature will effect the boiling of sugar-syrup 

 in vacuo, evaporation will proceed far more safely than in the old 

 process of heating the syrup in open pans, and the percentage of 

 waste will be greatly reduced, rendering the manufacture highly 

 profitable in a commercial point of view. 



Mr. Howard died at the early age of forty-two, and was buried at 

 St. Pancras, Middlesex. He left one son, and a daughter, Julia, who 

 was married in the year 1829 to the Hon. Henry Stafford Jerning- 

 ham, afterwards Lord Stafford. 



CAPTAIN J. HTTDDAET, F.R.S. 



Born Jan. 11, 1740. Died August 19, 1816. 



Joseph Huddart was born at Allonby in Cumberland. His 

 Father, who was a shoemaker and farmer, desiring to give his son 

 the best education in his power, sent him to a day-school kept by 

 Mr. Wilson, the clergyman of the village. Here young Huddart 

 acquired a knowledge of the elements of mathematics, including 

 astronomy, sciences in which he attained great proficiency in after 

 life. When quite a boy, Huddart gave indications of an original 

 mind, combined with great industry and unwearied patience. Having 

 fallen in with a treatise by Mungo Murray on ship building, he was 



