AZOTISED COMPOUNDS IN THE SUGAR CANE. 



91 



action of the usual tests, nitric acid, bi-chloride of mer- 

 cury, and creosote. It is, however, sufficient for the sugar 

 manufacturer to know, that it can be coagulated by the 

 agency of heat, and removed by nitration, and it will pro- 

 bably be designated albumen, till some more definite appel- 

 lation is bestowed upon it. I should, with all diffidence, 

 however, distinguish it as " cane albumen," as it appears 

 to be peculiar to that particular plant. Particles of fibrine 

 and gluten are also detected in fresh cane-juice. The 

 latter, no doubt, forms the " mateire globulaire" of Peligot, 

 who says that it does not exist in the fresh cut cane, but is 

 rapidly developed in the newly expressed juice. It pos- 

 sesses the power of immediately generating viscous fer- 

 mentation, but such power is destroyed by raising the 

 temperature of the juice to 160° F. Dr. Davy, in describ- 

 ing the appearance of fresh juice, says, — "However care- 

 fully expressed, it is never transparent, it is turbid in a 

 slight degree, and coloured. If viewed under the micro- 

 scope with a high power, innumerable granules will be 

 seen floating in the fluid, in diameter varying from the 

 ten thousandth to the fifteen thousandth parts of an inch. 

 By filtration through bibulous paper, it may be made 

 transparent, or nearly so, and most of these granules 

 separated. The matter of these particles consists, I 

 believe, chiefly of the nature of gluten, and, like gluten, has 

 the power of exciting fermentation, as I have ascertained 

 by various experiments made both on the substance pro- 

 cured by the filtration of the freshly expressed juice, and 



