50 
Previous ae and a have always ance that there is no 
appreciable amount of native sugar in tobacco, and consequently when 
any was found on enin P has been assumed to beadded. Certain im- 
porters have recently asserted that in some sweetened cigarettes of theirs, 
detained by the Customs, the saccharine matter is not added but native, 
and have brought forward a report by Professor Attfield, Chemist to: 
the Pharmaceutical Society, in favour of the possibility of this being: 
: ell, the Government Analyst at Somerset House, also 
reported that the sugar in this case “ was natural to the tobacco and h 
not been added thereto." Moreover, Dr. Bell had made experiments. 
with tobacco grown at Kew (in which there could be no suspicion that 
anything had rns e sf added), and found a considerable amount 
of sugar to be p 
n the othr dent: we are informed that the standard authorities do 
mention s sid S 
‘although there seems to be a préttiutdimifico of authority i in favour of its 
being (at least occasionally) so present, the question is not free from. 
Assuming, however, that the cepe of its presence be admitted, 
the question arises whet er sugar naturally present can practically be 
distinguished by analysis from that which is added. This is of i import- 
ance because of the question of allowing cigarettes to be imported ; 
moreover, the higher rate on “sweetened” (manufactured) tobacco is 
imposed as an equivalent to the restrictions placed on the home manu- 
facturer, and it would not be logically defensible to make the same 
extra charge if the article were proved to in its natural condition. 
ere, again, we have a conflict of opinion, Dr. Bell saying that the 
added and the natural sugar could be distinguished, while the gentleman 
who advises the Board of Customs on such questions says they "could not 
be so, în a tobacco infusion. 
If you could give any advice or suggestion to help the Government 
in deciding upon these two points, it would be Mad acceptable, 
Yours very tru 
(Signed) S. E quee Rick. 
Proressor CuuncoH, F.R.S., ro Royan GARDENS, Kew, 
Sucar IN Topacco. 
The presence ofa sugar in fresh tobacco seems to have been first 
ascertained by J. Nessler; see his Der Tabak, seine Bestandtheile und 
seine Behandlung ; Mannheim, 1867. The amount is very small and 
it wholly disappears during the fermentation to which the leaf is sub- 
jected in the process of curing. In Grandeau's Traité d'Analyse des 
Matiéres Agricoles (Paris, 1877), page 278, it is Stated that the sugar 
occurs chiefly “dans la moelle de la tige. Dr. J. Koenig’s 
Nahrungs- und Genuss-Mittel (Berlin, 1879-80) contains a good deal 
of analytical information about tobacco (see pp. 493 to 502 of Volume iL., 
also pp. 194-8 of Volume I.) The abstract of papers in the Jahres- 
bericht der Agricultur-Chemie (24 vols.) contain no further informa- 
tion. 
(Signed) A. H. CHURCH- 
Shelsley, Kew, August 10, 1883, à 
