54 tiMEHRI. 



Again the maintenance of high temperatures through- 

 out the battery, so desirable for rapidity and thorough- 

 ness of extra6lion, for the preservation of the juice in 

 the battery, and for the advantageous use of the exhausted 

 slices as fuel, tends still further to complicate matters. 



I do not wish to praise diffusion one moment, and find 

 fault with it the next. Far from it. I simply wish to be 

 explicit, and to place things, if possible, in their true 

 light. Moreover, diffusion, as now pra6lised in Deme- 

 rara, is an excellent process, and I only wish to see 

 it placed in a still better position than it has ever occu- 

 pied, by ridding it of some of its present drawbacks. 

 Many people, not acquainted with the ins and outs of 

 our practical difficulties, might be tempted to think that 

 undud^ prominence is being given to this question. But 

 I don't think so, for I have a strong impression that this 

 is one of our chief troubles, and should not be ignored ; 

 and I firmly believe it is at the bottom of many pra6tical 

 inconsistencies in the working of the process, which 

 cause great loss and annoyance and can only be got rid 

 of by a thorough analysis and final settlement of this 

 question, and I trust, Mr. Chairman, I am not overstep- 

 ping the mark in suggesting that your influence as 

 President of this Society might obtain for us a paper 

 from Dr. Stubbs and his professional associates in Louisi- 

 ana, on this subjedl, to be read either by yourself or the 

 Secretary at a future meeting, before the close of the 

 year. 



The case may be very briefly stated as follows : 

 The organic solids, not sugars, in mill and diffusion juice 

 comprise two main classes; (a) nitrogenous bodies, 

 that have usually been accepted altogether as alburai- 



