SUGAR. 135 



without shelling them, a quantity of suet being added during 

 the process of grinding. 



Amongst the poorer classes in Italy and Ireland a drink 

 is prepared from the husks which are separated in making 

 chocolate. These husks are largely imported from Trieste 

 and other Italian ports under the name of "Miserable." 

 It is said that the beverage prepared from this is very 

 wholesome and agreeable. Both chocolate and cocoa are 

 very much adulterated with wheaten and potato flour, etc. 

 The quantity imported in 1851 (chiefly from Brazil, Guaya- 

 quil, and Trinidad) was about 2000 tons, of which only 

 about 580 tons were re-exported. {Poole's Statistics.) 



Sugar. — The saccharine matter from the juice of the 

 Sugar-cane, Saccharum officinarnm. (Nat. Ord. Gramina- 

 cea.) (Plate I. fig. 5.) The Sugar of China, of which 

 small quantities have reached this country, is supposed to 

 be from S. Sinense, a distinct species.. 



That the Sugar-cane was known to the ancients is most 

 certain, as various of the writers of antiquity refer to it. 

 Dr. Pereira, in his elaborate and invaluable work on ' Materia 

 Medica and Therapeutics/ gives the following interesting 

 historical account of Sugar : — u The manufacture of sugar 

 is said by Humboldt to be of the highest antiquity in China. 



