72 



TiMEHRI. 



crystals, but they are shut in more as a fly is sometimes 

 found in amber, than incorporated as copper is in brass. 



Therefore the separation of impurities in commercial 

 sugar is not the same process as the separation of sugar 

 from the other constituents of the juice of a plant. And 

 what may answer in the one case need not necessarily 

 be a success in the other. 



Let us consider what the sugar maker here has to deal 

 with. It is the stalk of a plant, the sugar cane. 

 If a transverse se6lion of this stalk be made, it will be 

 seen that it is divided into two parts ; the circumference 

 and the inside. The circumference is a rind, the juice of 

 which is sap which rises to nourish the plant. This sap 

 consists of substances useful to the plant, that would 

 eventually be converted into sugar by nature's chemistry, 

 but they contain no sugar yet. The inside is a quantity 

 of cells made of woody stuff and filled with a clear 

 limpid liquor, which chiefly consists of water and sugar. 

 The spaces between the joints are a mass of cells. 

 At each joint is an eye and a circle of spots. These 

 eyes are the germs of future shoots, and these spots are 

 the germs of future roots, and these are fit for 

 growth, unless, as in ripe canes, they are dried and 

 withered by age. 



In fa6l, the internal economy of the cane reminds one 

 of the arrangement of a honey-bee's hive : the cells of the 

 cane remind one of the combs containing bee-food, while 

 the joints are somewhat similar to the combs containing 

 eggs and larvae. 



The middle of a cane is the sweetest, because it con- 

 tains the largest proportion of centre cells ; and the upper 

 end is the poorest, because it has a large proportion of 



