514 *^^ DIFFERENT SPECIES OF SUGAR. 



same sirup distilled with weak sulphuric acid affords no 

 signs of vinegar; the acid it couiams therefore is not vo- 

 latile, 

 and malic If this simp be boiled with chalk, its acid is saturated ; 



and from the filtered and concentrated juice alcohol sepa- 

 rates malate of lime, but in so small a quantity, that we 

 need not he surprised if Macquer and Darget, in the ex- 

 periments they made at Bercy near Paris, did not perceive 

 Tlie use of re- ^"y ^^^^ ^" *^^ j^^^^ of the cane. Duthrone, wheu he said, 

 peatedly ad- that the repeated employment of potash and lime in the 

 anJflfml^in clarification of sugar must have for its object, to saturate 

 purifying su- any thing but acids, was in the right. He even thinks, that 

 ^^'^' the alkalis combine with some remains of glutinous fecnlse, 



and thus lessen their too great solubility. Yet as it seems 

 net ascertain- difficult to conceive, according to our ideas of the proper- 

 ^* ties of gluten, how it can remain dissolved in so large 



quantity in juices void of acid, or deprived of it by the 

 first satu.ration, I dare not at present adopt this opinion, 

 because I do not see clearly what is the use of the alkalis in 

 the clarification of the juice of the sugar-cane. 

 Infusion of the The cane cut into thin slices gives out its soluble parts to 

 fresh cane water. On concentratmg this solution, a little before it 

 boils a greenish, feculent film separates, which does not 

 yields ammo- ^^i^^r from that of gooseberries, grapes, &c., and affords abun- 

 uia. dance of ammonia on distillation. Duthrone obtained the 



same result. 

 Boiled down If it be boiled down to the consistence of a thick sirup, 

 to niuscovadp. jj^ fifteen or twenty days a congelation like honey will be 

 produced, sufficiently firm to remain fast in the vessel. 

 Its flavour. The taste of this muscovado sugar is pleasant.- and it has 

 an aromatic flavour, which may be better recognized in me- 

 lasses, or still more in rum. The race of this liquor there- 

 fore is really that of the cane: it is a product of the plant, 

 and not a precipitate formed in the preparation, or by any 

 of the changes to which the juice is exposed before it ar- 

 rives at the state of melasses. 

 The cane af- According to Duthrone, the cane commonly affords half 

 fords half Its jjg weight of juice. This juice marks on Baume's areorae- 

 weight of juice. „ o j- cc j j- xi • 



ter rrom 5*^ to 14 , a arfierence dependmg on the ripeness, 



and the inflfuence of other causes, which occasion an increase 



or 



