416 On the Saccharine contents of Sugar Cane. 



orange tree, Cactus speciosus, and Pelargonum capitatum, with a 

 strong solution of arsenious acid : at the end of eight or ten days, 

 during which the watering had been continued, the plants perished. 

 The analysis did not discover the least trait of arsenic in any part of 

 the plants. 



From this we may conclude, that arsenious acid employed in solu- 

 tion, is capable of destroying the plants without penetrating into 

 their trunk. 



Probably in this case the poison penetrates into the root, or into 

 the radicular extremities of the plant, altering the functions or 

 the organization, and thus produces the death of the vegetable. — 

 From L'echo du Monde Savant. 



Extract of a Letter from T. A. Henley, Esq., dated Port Louis, Mauritius, 

 3rd April 1842, to George James Gordon, Esq., Calcutta.* 



Since I had the pleasure of forwarding you a box of samples of pro- 

 duce of this Island, by the Exmouth, favored by Mr. Bell, and got up 

 as is often the case in like circumstances in a hurry ; it occurred to me 

 that I might have at some time excluded a specimen of much interest. I 

 now endeavour to make up for the omission, in forwarding to you a sam- 

 ple of the Sugar Cane of the Island, thoroughly desiccated and pow- 

 dered, so that you will have in Calcutta, in most complete preservation 

 a portion of the Island Cane, minus its aqueous portion. I believe I 

 took occasion in a former letter to notice to you, that previous to the 

 researches of the French chemists, (at least previous to my knowing any 

 thing about their operation,) I had been occupying myself in analysis 

 of the Sugar Cane, and was so struck with the difference between the 

 absolute contents of the Sugar Cane in saccharine matter, and that ob- 

 tained by the ordinary process of manufacture, that some of my friends 

 treated the thing as absurd, whilst others more reasonably, came ac- 

 companied by the specimen of Canes they desired to analyze, and 



* We are indebted for this communication, together with the following valuable note on the 

 subject by Mr. G. J. Gordon, to the kindness of John Allan, Esq.— Ed. 



" Probably exposing the cane-trash as it is called to a slow current of boiling water, might 

 be sufficient to extract the saccharine matter retained by the woody fibre after the expression 

 of the juice by the ordinary process. This would be far less expensive than the drying and 

 grinding process, and would leave the cane-trash in a form still fit for fuel when dry." 



