292 PURIFICATION OF THE JUICE OF THE BEET ROOT. 
have not sought a controversy on this point, but it is quite time that 
we should all agree that there is something of high interest and 
importance to be determined in regard to the limitation of the succes- 
sive faunze of our older paleeozoic rocks. 
Albany, N. Y., January 23, 1861. 
ON THE PURIFICATION OF THE JUICE OF THE BEET- 
ROOT, IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BEET-ROOT 
SUGAR. 
BY M. EMILE ROUSSEAU. 
Translated, with slight condensation, from the Comptes Rendus, of 
January 14th, 1861. 
Two substances, which oppose themselves more especially to the 
extraction of the saccharine matter of the beet-root, are always found 
in the juices of that vegetable. The first of these belongs to the 
class of albuminous and caseous matters, and undergoes all the modi- 
fications produced by reagents on solutions of albumen and caseine. 
Both lime salts and lime itself effect coagulation, but, with the latter, 
the saccharine juices remain alkaline after being treated with carbonic 
acid. This arises from the solution of a portion of the vegetable 
matter by the lime, and its retention in chemical combination, as 
shewn lately by M. Fremy; or by the liberation, by means of that 
reagent, of the potash or soda contained naturally in these juices. 
The two effects are indeed produced simultaneously, giving rise to an 
altered condition which is felt more particularly in the final stages of 
the manufacture. 
The other substance, alluded to above, is an uncoloured product, at 
least whilst contained in the vegetable ceil, but, from its avidity for 
oxygen, it becomes rapidly coloured by exposure to the air, and is 
otherwise modified by the action of oxidizing agents, so as to become 
entirely transformed into the well-known brown matter which originates 
during the evaporation of vegetable juices. In a recent memoir by 
M. Cuartin, the existence of this substance is confirmed in other ways. 
When deprived, for example, of all albuminous matter, it reduces 
