ON CHEMICAL YIELDING PLANTS 



fications in the proportions in which the different 

 elements are compounded. 



It appears that sugar of the glucose type, as 

 represented in the syrup of the sorghum, is a much 

 more simple compound than cane sugar. 



The Glucose has only 6 atoms of carbon while 

 cane sugar has 18; it has 12 atoms of hydrogen 

 only, whereas cane sugar has 32; and 6 atoms of 

 oxygen, in contrast with the 16 atoms of the cane- 

 sugar molecule. 



We have elsewhere seen that starch is a 

 compound of the same elements; differing, indeed, 

 from glucose only in that it has 10 hydrogen 

 atoms instead of 12, and 5 oxygen atoms instead 

 of 6. 



Stated in chemical terms, a molecule of starch 

 that has had a molecule of water incorporated with 

 its substance in a chemical union, becomes a mole- 

 cule of glucose; and, of course, the converse holds 

 — a dehydrated molecule of glucose becomes a 

 molecule of starch. 



But to build up a molecule of cane sugar from 

 either starch or glucose requires the introduction 

 and incorporation of many individual atoms, 

 although no new kinds of atoms are required. It 

 is simply that the molecule of cane sugar is a very 

 much more intricate structure, made of the same 

 material. The glucose molecule is, if you will, a 



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