Aug. 31, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



207 



In as far as the process has been permitted to be di- 

 vulged, it appears to possess several remarkable features, 

 more remarkable than would be expected from the mere 

 use of electricity, except by those whose ignorance 

 leads them to credit that agent with any possible or im- 

 possible kind of mysterious power. In the first place, 

 no syrup is produced, and consequently boiling does not 

 enter into the process ; animal charcoal is also dispensed 

 with, and through the whole of the operations the sugar 

 is used in the dry state only. The refining process lasts 

 about four hours ; that is, the refined sugar is formed 

 within four hours of the time when the machinery is set 

 in motion, and is then produced continuously as long as 

 the raw sugar is supplied. The lowest qualities of 

 crude sugar are refined with as much ease, and as inex- 

 pensively, as those of the best quality. The quantities 

 dealt with, which have included beetroot, Java " stoops," 

 etc., have been from ten pounds up to over three tons at 

 a trial, and the machinery now nearly completed is es- 

 timated to have a daily output of 500 tons. The pro- 

 duct is described as a hard, white, crystalline, sugar, 

 containing 99/90 percent, of pure cane sugar — that is to 

 say, practically of perfect purity. This result contains 

 within one per cent, of the whole saccharine matter of 

 the raw sugar, whether it be in the condition of cane or 

 invert sugar and whatever its quality. Any description 

 of refined sugar can be produced, and any size of grain. 

 The crystalline form and structure as seen under the 

 microscope differ entirely, it is said, from those of ordi- 

 nary sugar. There are, it seems, two main divisions of 

 the machinery — one by which a molecular transforma- 

 tion in the sugar is produced, and the other in which 

 the transformed sugar is formed into crystals of the 

 required size. This second, or granulating part seems to 

 be that in which a difficulty has occurred in manufacturing 

 on a large scale. This difficulty, however, is stated to 

 have been overcome. The first division of the machi- 

 nery is that which contains the Professor's chief secret, 

 and of which he was most jealous of all. He had it 

 established in a special strong room at the top of the 

 building, and over the door was affixed an announcement 

 which declared that any one venturing inside this secret 

 apartment would meet with instant death — a threat which 

 we are told, he had taken precautions to carry into effect. 



The cost of production is, of course, one of the chief 

 considerations to be weighed in the establishment of a 

 manufacturing enterprise. In this respect the Electric 

 Sugar Refining Company seems very fortunate. The cost 

 of the refining process is not to rise above 3s. gd. per 

 ton, or at least the Professor's shares are to receive no 

 dividend if that price be exceeded. By this means a 

 profit of ^4 per ton is said to be possible. The intro- 

 duction into New York of the new manufacture is said 

 to be looked forward to in the hope that it will break 

 the great monopoly called the Sugar Trust, which controls 

 all dealing in this article. If the anticipations of the 

 Company be realised at least two great benefits will be 

 conferred on sugar consumers — the diminished cost of 

 sugar will provide a further source of cheap food, and 

 the clear crystalline structure of the new production will 

 greatly increase the difficulty of adulteration. 



The Magnetic Properties of Gases. — According to 

 the recent experiments of Professor Toepler, oxygen is 

 the most magnetic of all gases ; next follow atmospheric 

 air, nitric oxide, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide. 



Bees and Bee-Keeping; Scientific and Practical A Com- 

 plete Treatise on the Anatomy, Physiology, Floral 

 Relations, and Profitable Management of the Hive 

 Bee. By Frank R. Cheshire, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., 

 Lecturer on Apiculture at South Kensington. With 

 numerous Illustrations of the Internal and External 

 Structure of the Bee, and its Application to Plant 

 Fertilisation ; Bee Appliances and Methods of Ope- 

 ration, Diseases, etc. Vol. I., Scientific. London : 

 L. Upcott Gill. 

 To many persons, even of the " educated and respect- 

 able " classes, an elaborate work in two goodly volumes 

 on the hive-bee will seem a surprise. But if they will 

 take the trouble to follow the author they will, we 

 believe, find here matter of great and varied interest. 

 Mr. Cheshire is a man evidently familiar — practically 

 familiar — with his subject. But at the same time he is 

 miles apart from the rule-of-thumb bee-master of the old 

 school. He tells his readers that " practice without in- 

 telligent insight only stereotypes ; but practice, hand-in- 

 hand with accurate knowledge and observation, works 

 out perfection " — a principle that holds good in every 

 sphere of industrial art. He, therefore, takes his stand 

 upon a sound general acquaintance with insect structure 

 and insect life, more especially that of the Hymenoptera, 

 and most especially with the Apida, the group to which 

 the domestic honey-bee belongs. 



The account given of wild and hive bees, of the eco- 

 nomy and general structure of the latter, and of their 

 nervous and digestive systems, etc., is not merely accu- 

 rate but has the advantage of being conveyed in intel- 

 ligible language, not over-loaded with newly-coined 

 technical terms, and is illustrated with clearly drawn 

 figures. 



A very interesting chapter is that devoted to the organs 

 of special sense, the antenna; and the eyes. The author 

 considers it highly probable that bees — he might have 

 extended this proposition to insects generally — " possess 

 modifications of sensibility which we can no more 

 truly realise than can the blind imagine the difference 

 between red and green." This opinion few observant 

 entomologists will seek to gainsay. The sense of touch 

 he refers to the tactile hairs distributed in different parts 

 ■ — an adaptation which we find to some extent even in 

 vertebrate animals, e.g., the whiskers of the cat. Taste 

 he seeks for in the mouth and tongue, and also, possibly, 

 in the nerve endings of the epipharynx. Hearing and 

 smelling he places both in the antennas, which he de- 

 scribes and figures very carefully. That these wonderful 

 appendages are at the same time the organs of touch, as 

 we find it to be the case in some mammalia, need not 

 surprise us. He points out that Sir John Lubbock does 

 not deny to bees the possession of hearing, but merely 

 takes a negative position, his own experiments having 

 proved indecisive. These experiments, however, the 

 author regards as inconclusive in face of certain facts 

 which may be observed in dealing with bees. Hence he 

 does not deny all possible value to the " key and 

 swarming-pan " of old times. 



Facts which he mentions prove not merely the pos- 

 session of smell by insects, but its localisation in the 

 antennae. He refers to the collection of moths by the 

 practice of " sembling," which he has personally wit- 

 nessed on Bagshot Heath. Among bees he mentions 

 that the drones have a far more highly developed sen 



