8. W. Johnson on two Sugars from California. 7 



sample I send you, was taken from one of the cakes which had 

 been partly used, but still weighed several pounds. Its color was 

 white or gray, with a greenish tinge, probably imparted to it by 

 the leaves and other impurities. It was not crystalline or granu- 

 lar, but in consistency was more like partly hardened molasses- 

 candy but was not so adhesive or sticky. It had a peculiar sweet 

 taste, somewhat saline as if it contained a portion of common 

 salt. A part of the mass dissolved in water showed the presence 

 of a large amount of impurities, and among them, numerous re- 

 mains of the Aphis or green-fly. I concluded that these little 

 vermin were the manufacturers of the sugar; an opinion, which 

 I afterwards confirmed to my own satisfaction, by seeing great 

 numbers of these insects on cane leaves made glossy with their 

 excrements. This is probably the source of the Sugar; its 

 accumulation being favored by the long dry season without any 

 rain to wash the leaves. 



The other sample I send, is called ' Pine-sugar,' and exudes in 

 considerable quantities from a species of pine growing abundantly 

 in the forests on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. This 

 is probably Mannite." 



The Panoche, as placed in my hands, had entirely lost its solid- 

 ity, and was mostly absorbed into the numerous papers that had 

 been wrapped about the original mass. In addition to a peculiar 

 odor reminding of figs, it had a strong acetic smell. It was 

 digested in warm water, and the solution filtered and pressed from 

 the paper, fragments of mat, and other impurities; the liquid 

 was evaporated at a gentle heat, and yielded a thick syrup, not 

 distinguishable in appearance and sweetness, from the poorer qual- 

 ities of West India molasses ; but it left on the tongue a disa- 

 greeable, bitter, and quite lasting after-taste. I was unable to 

 separate any crystallizable sugar from this syrup. It gave with 

 the usual tests, the reaction of a mixture of cane and grape sugars. 

 The alteration it had undergone while in Mr. Blake's possession 

 is not a little remarkable, and it appears that when he procured 

 it, it was already in a state of change, for he informs me in a 

 recent note, that there is in the U. S. Patent Office a specimen of 

 sugar of the same origin which is in the solid form, resembling a 

 cake of maple sugar. Is this change of consistency due to a 

 humid atmosphere, or to continued motion ? I have observed a 

 similar change in a cake of maple sugar which was carried from 

 this country to Europe. It was originally a firm hard mass, but 

 after the journey it had become quite soft, and the thick paper 

 envelope was thoroughly saturated with molasses. 



The Pine Sugar had the form of rounded, rough nodules, half an 

 inch and more in diameter ; some were nearly white, others were 

 of a brown color. They were almost completely soluble in water 

 and in boiling alcohol, yielding a reddish brown liquid. The 

 alcoholic solution was partially decolorized by bone black, and a 



