GRAMINACEiE. 667 



it was known to the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and say that it was 

 not introduced into Arabia till the end of the 13th century. From Arabia 

 they state it was carried to Egypt, whence the Moors obtained it, and carried 

 it to Spain. In the 15th century it was taken to the Canary Islands by 

 the Portuguese, and thence to the West Indies and America. It is certain 

 that previous to 1466, Sugar was known in Europe only as a medicine. An 

 interesting account of the Sugar-cane has been given by Dr. Macfadyen, 

 in Hooker's Botanical Miscellany, No. 2. 



Sugar is manufactured in the following manner. When the cane is ripe 

 it is cut down, deprived of its top and leaves, and crushed between iron 

 rollers. The juice is conveyed into boilers, where it is heated, with the addi- 

 tion of lime, and evaporated until it assumes the consistence of syrup, care 

 being taken to remove any scum that may arise. The syrup then passes 

 into other evaporating vessels, till it has acquired sufficient consistence, when 

 it is poured into a wooden vessel, called a cooler, where it is constantly 

 stirred as it concretes, so as to grain it. The sugar is then placed in hogs- 

 heads, having holes in the bottom, and permitted to drain. In this state it is 

 termed Muscovado or Brown sugar, and the drainings, Molasses. To purify 

 it, so as to form Refined or Loaf sugar, the raw sugar is subjected to a variety 

 of processes, which it would be out of place to detail. (See Ure, Diet. Article 

 Sugar.) 



Sugar, when pure, is white, very sweet, but without odour. It is soluble 

 in all proportions in water, but less so in alcohol. When heated it melts, 

 and on cooling, again solidifies into a semi-transparent mass, known as 

 Barley sugar. At a still higher temperature it is decomposed, swells, emits 

 a peculiar odour, and becomes of a rich brown colour, when it is called Ca- 

 ramel. Nitric acid converts it into Oxalic acid, and diluted Sulphuric, into 

 Grape sugar. (See Introduction.) 



The dietetic properties of Sugar are well known. The fresh juice of the 

 Cane is very nutritious, but somewhat laxative, as is also the raw or Brown 

 sugar. It is usually supposed that Sugar has a tendency to cause flatulency 

 and a morbid acidity of the stomach, but this does not seem to be the case, 

 where it is used with moderation ; in excess, it certainly creates much dis- 

 turbance of the primce vice. (See Dunglison's Human Health, 199, 267.) 



Medical Uses. — Sugar is but little employed as a medicine, but forms a 

 constituent of numerous compound remedies. Dr. Rush says (Med. hiquir. i. 

 370), that Sugar and Molasses, when freely used by children, are excellent 

 anthelmintics. Sugar has likewise proved beneficial in scurvy, and in some 

 chronic diseases of the skin. Powdered loaf sugar has been employed exter- 

 nally to fungous ulcers, and for the removal of specks on the cornea. As a 

 chemical antidote it has been recommended in cases of poisoning by several 

 of the mineral salts, but should never be relied upon, as it merely acts as an 

 emollient and demulcent. 



Class IV. — Sporogens, or Rhizanthous Plants. 



Parasitical plants, having- cellular scales instead of true leaves. Stem lost in the tissue 

 of the plant, and having few or no spiral vessels. Furnished with true flowers, having 

 stamens and carpels, and surrounded with a trimerous or pentamerous calyx, or wholly 

 naked. Ovules similar .to those of other flowering plants. True nature of seeds not un- 

 derstood ; by some said to be a mass of spores, by others to be a cellular nucleus abound- 

 ing in grumous corpuscles ; but certainly in some instances having a minute, undivided 

 embryo, enclosed in a mucilagino-granular albumen. 



Very little is known regarding this extraordinary class, and botanists are 

 by no means in unison, either as respects its structure or its true station 



