80 USES 
For the manufacture of spirits,-barley, oats, maize, rice, wheat 
and rye are all employed, but more especially the three first named. 
The saccharine liquor obtained from these grains, by the conver- 
sion of starch into sugar, is by the distiller fermented to the utmost 
extreme in order to produce as much alcohol as possible, the 
chemical equation of this fermentative change being 
CeH¥O& = 2C°H*9O + 2C0% 
(Glucose) (Alcohol) (Carbon dioxide) 
The enormous quantity of carbonic acid gas evolved is allowed to 
escape, and the alcohol is separated from the fermented liquor by 
means of retorts, the vapour that is given off consisting mostly of 
the more volatile alcohol. 18 gallons of proof spirit (containing 
49¢ per cent. of alcohol) can be manufactured from one quarter of 
barley. Whiskey and gin are for the most part manufactured from 
this grain, the gin being flavoured with oil of juniper berries or 
with turpentine. Maize is used most commonly in the United 
States distilleries, and now largely in this country. 70 million 
bushels of maize were imported into the United Kingdom last 
year, valued at £8,000,000. Glucose, prepared from maize by 
means of a weak solution of sulphuric acid, is now very largely 
used for strengthening the wort; cane sugar (CygH».O41) is used 
for the same purpose. The juice of the sugar-cane, or more cor- 
rectly the molasses, a bye-product in the manufacture of sugar, is 
most generally used for the distillation of rum. The molasses 
obtained from 100 tons of cane yield by distillation about 20 to 25 
gallons of alcohol. Only a very small quantity of the spirits manu- 
factured is used for other purposes than as a beverage. Vinegar 
is largely manufactured from the fermented liquor of various 
grains, the alcohol being converted by oxidation into acetic acid. 
For our supplies of sugar we were, until recent years, almost 
entirely dependent upon the grass family ; now more than half 
the quantity of sugar manufactured is obtained from beet. Sugar 
is present in considerable quantities in the stems of some grasses, 
notably in those of the sugar-cane (Saccharum officinarum), the 
sap or juice of which contains about 21 per cent. ofsugar. Sorghum 
saccharatum, Chinese sugar-grass, yields about 13 per cent. of 
sugar, and is cultivated in China, and to some extent in Southern 
Europe, America and Australia. The stems of maize also yield 
sugar, but the quantity, 7 per cent., is too small to make its ex- 
traction profitable. The cultivation of Saccharum officinarum is 
very general in tropical and subtropical countries, and is in many 
parts the staple industry. This is a handsome grass with culms 
10 or 12 feet high, leaves 3 or 4 feet long, and a feathery panicle ; 
it is perennial, and continues productive for 10 or 15 years; it is 
probably indigenous to India, Cochin China, and the Malay Archi- 
pelago, and has spread westward ; it reached Europe about the 
12th century, the Canaries in 1503, San Domingo 1520, and was 
well established in America by the middle of the 16th century. 
The culms or “canes” are cut when about to flower, the yield 
