(6) 



It is by no means improbable that the Spaniards found 

 the Sugar Cane already growing, when they discovered the 

 "West Indies ; at any rate with their wonderful adaptability 

 of soil and climate, and the subsequent introduction of slave 

 labor, they soon came into complete control of the sugar mar- 

 kets, and in the 16th century India, Europe, and the Medi- 

 terranean Islands were driven out of all competition, and 

 their manufactures languished. 



There are three chief saccharine substances, difi'ering 

 slightly in chemical composition, which are more or less fa- 

 miliar to us. These are called " Cane Sugar," •' Grape Su- 

 gar," and " Milk Sugar." The last gives to milk its sweet 

 taste, and is found only in that animal secretion of which it 

 constitutes from 3 to 10 per cent. It is made frora whey, on 

 quite a large scale among the mountain dairies of Switzer- 

 land, and finds its chief use as a vehicle for Homeopathic 

 medicines, and in some localities as an article of food. It is 

 white, hard, and brittle. 



Grape Sugar, called also " Glucose," is undoubtedly the 

 most abundant and widely distributed in nature of the three 

 forms of sugar. It gives to almost all fruits their sweet 

 taste, and is the main cause of the sweetness in nearly all 

 our cultivated vegetables. It can moreover be made artifi- 

 cially from starch by a very simple process, and yields 

 readily to fermentation, forming Alcohol, and on this ac- 

 count it is coming more and more into demand for the man- 

 ufacture of beers and alcoholic liquors. It is not crystali- 

 zable. 



Cane Sugar is to every one a familiar friend, and needs no 

 description. It is the most common of all our so-called lux- 

 uries ; the last we give up when compelled to economize. 

 *It is claimed by some political economists that the cou- 



*In 1866, at the close of the war, the consumption of sugar per capita 

 in the United States was only one half what it was in 187G. 



