No. 5.— 1850.] 



SUGAR MANUFACTURE. 



227 



-of gelatine, on being pointed out to me in Mr. Gay's 

 pamphlet, seemed very applicable to our liquor. Being 

 already saturated with the peculiar principle of the bark, on 

 the addition of the gelatine a decided and very abundant 

 precipitate at once took place, which was all stopped by a 

 flannel filter, leaving a pure limpid fluid, which we all agree 

 in thinking cannot contain much besides sugar and the salts 

 (supposed to be of potash) peculiar to the cocoanut juice. 

 Though boiled in a quantity of only three pints, in a wretched 

 little earthen pot, which burned the liquor in all directions, 

 as they all do, the sugar No. 1 was the result, and the 

 molasses merely nominal,* while it was easy to see the 

 syrup would have mostly all grained on a second boiling. 

 This process I consider as the one in every respect the best, 

 and I also recommend this to the cane planter. The 

 pounded hal potu, in sufficient quantity, I would leave 

 in the clarifier all the time the juice is running in from the 

 mill ; or if that were insufficient, a decoction or infusion 

 could be added. The gelatine must be mixed and the 

 liquor filtered, I think, below the boiling point, or even cold, 

 but that must be ascertained by experiment. The vessels 

 for clarifying must be of copper. I fully intend to prove 

 this point as soon as our present wet weather shall clear up. 



Having written the above, I was favoured with the opinion 

 of a scientific friend on the subject, on which 1 have detailed 

 the experiment just described. He says he has been 

 studying the action of the bark, and does not think it 

 contains any tannin, for in the first place it shows no action 

 with iron, and moreover the precipitate which it forms with 

 gelatine is soluble in lime water. (This is true, for 1 have 

 proved it also.) He says further : — " I am inclined to think 

 that it contains a peculiar principle capable of throwing 



* None of the samples of sugar I send have been drained for more 

 than two davs. 



57—87 h 



