dr. Mitchell's experiments ox heating canes, 99 



returned 25*7 oz., or 13*9 per cent. Of these two, the 

 heavier sugar was much the finer, and cured with more 

 facility. The drainage, in taste and smell, resembled syrup 

 more than melasses, and is now depositing crystals equal 

 in quality to the original sugar. During this trial it was 

 remarked, that while ordinary liquor was brightened by a 

 due addition of lime, that from the heated cane became 

 tinged with green, and this shade extended to the sugar ; the 

 alkali had no doubt dissolved and liberated chlorophylle, 

 previously fixed by heat, among the coagulable constituents. 

 Two thousand lbs. of cane were next taken, and equally 

 divided. One half was heated, and on being passed through 

 the mill, yielded 63 lbs. of liquor, and 37 lbs. megass. 

 Thirty-two lbs. of this juice gave 93 oz. saccharine 

 matter, or rather more than 18 per cent. It is to be here 

 observed that the original weight, 32 lbs., includes that of ail 

 the feculse, separated by lime. Had the per centage been 

 taken on clarified liquor, it would have been much higher. 

 On adding the lime, the green tinge was more strongly 

 marked than in the preceding case, but it greatly 

 diminished with the drainage. The unheated portion of 

 the canes gave 68 lbs. liquor, and 32 lbs. megass, being a 

 difference in fuel of 16 per cent, in favour of the heated 

 cane. The fibre of the latter becomes tenacious, tears with 

 difficulty, and when the cane was sound, fell from the mill 

 in one uninterrupted ribband, being fit for fuel in a few 

 hours ; while the ordinary megass, from which 68 per cent, 

 liquor had been extracted, was much more torn, and only fit 



