Chemical Products. 93 



of potassa. There is no vanity in saying that the difficulties and 

 dangers overcome in conducting this process, are very seldom sur- 

 passed, and you cannot fail, I think, to be interested in the account I 

 propose to present you. I will at an early day prepare and forward it. 



Molasses from the Potatoe. 



I have been for some time persuaded, says Mr. G. taking the data 

 furnished by chemists as correct, that sugar might be advantageously 

 made, in towns remote from the Atlantic coast, from the potatoe, and 

 one year ago, Capt. E. G. Patter, at my instance, with great ingenuity, 

 devised and constructed machinery, and apparatus for prosecuting the 

 business. As this is the first attempt, within my knowledge, to make 

 sugar from that, on any considerable scale, I propose giving you a full 

 account of the business so far as it has proceeded. He has used in 

 the manufacture three thousand five hundred bushels of potatoes. A 

 fair sample of the sugar, or rather molasses, for no " crystallized" 

 pure sugar could be obtained, is now sent to you. 



The molasses forwarded by Mr. Guthrie is very rich, and appar- 

 ently pure syrup, and has only a slight peculiarity of taste, a little 

 like that of an oil, that could enable one to distinguish it from the 

 best cane molasses. The syrup is nearly as rich as that from the 

 sugar maple ; and not improbably may yet afford crystallized sugar. 



' Gun Powder. 



Mr. Guthrie has made gun powder on a new principle of his own 

 invention ; by which the danger of the manufacture is much dimin- 

 ished, the process greatly accelerated, and the constituents more inti- 

 mately combined than has been done in any known process ; hence, 

 with good materials it is not unreasonable to expect important results^ 

 The sample forwarded is not yet received. 



Pure Spirits or Oil of Turpentine. 



Mr. Guthrie writes, date May 8, 1831. — One year ago, I discov- 

 ered a process, by which much resin was abstracted from oil of tur- 

 pentine after it had been " redistilled from water.^^ The oil of tur- 

 pentine I send you is pure, or nearly so, and is, as I think, an article 

 of considerable importance. It dissolves singly, caoutchouc, and the 

 solution dries rapidly, and does not continue sticky like the solution 

 made with common oil of turpentine. Mixed with alcohol, it burns in 

 a lamp without leaving small resinous points upon the wick, or caus- 



