360 SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 
the growth and manufacture of "sugar from date, beet, maple, sorghum, 
&c. ; the refined sugar manufacture of England, and the use and treat- 
ment of animal charcoal, &c, are ably written, and, would, if extracted, 
be very interesting to the general reader. But the chapters which will 
most interest those who look on the fiscal side of the question, will be 
those on the prices of sugars, and on the different duties imposed at dif- 
ferent periods. What a suggestive instance of the short-sighted inter- 
ference of government in the onward flow of commerce is the fact, that 
in the year 1700 the consumption of sugar in the United Kingdom was 
10,000 tons, while at the present time it has increased to 500,000 tons, 
though its progiess is still fettered with the remnants of red-tape legis- 
lation. Those who wish to estimate the value of such legislation, can 
turn to page 171 of Mr. Seed's book, where they will find the account of 
the sugar debates in Parliament in 1841, when Lord Melbourne's 
Ministry was wrecked in attempting a fairer system of sugar duties. 
The late Sir Robert Peel's argument in that debate was one which 
would teach every statesman how fluctuating is Parliamentary consist- 
tency, and how vain it is to struggle against the spirit of the age. When 
Sir Robert said : " a sufficient quantity of sugar for home consumption 
may be obtained from the East and West Indies and Mauritius, without 
resorting to the slave colonies," he little foresaw what enormous ad- 
vances the consumption of sugar was destined to make. Our limits, 
however, preclude us from any further reference to Mr. Reed's welcome 
volume. We may add, that as the working man, and the class above 
the working men, are intimately concerned in this question of tea and 
sugar, which are no longer the luxuries, but the necessary aids of daily 
life, this volume is just the sort of book a working man should read, 
and which, we trust, will find a place in every Mechanic's Institute 
library. Nothing can better elucidate the mischief of commercial re- 
strictions than the history of the sugar duties ; while nothing will more 
interest the consumer of sugar than the triumphs of science in extract- 
ing the beautiful and brilliant crystals of the present day from the cane, 
the beet, and we may probably add, the sorghum also. 
imutiiir Jfnte. 
Rice in Italy. — Mr. Sackville West, in his ' Commercial Report 
on Italy for the year 1863,' says that rice is more extensively cultivated 
in Italy than in any other part of Europe, although the date of its in- 
troduction is comparatively recent. Ids cultivation, for sanitary reasons, 
has always been more or less restricted by legislative measures, and the 
question as to whether it is really pernicious or not to the health of the 
surrounding populations has ever been and still is seriously discussed. 
