ON THE JUICE OF THE SUGAR-CANE. 367 
ordinary processes of their manufacture. I may also add that such canes 
even when most extensively diseased, did not contain a greater relative 
proportion of uncrystallizable sugar. 
II. The Primitive Condition op the Sacharine in the Cane. 
As I have already noticed, the cane does not contain crystallizable sugar 
alone. In stating an opinion so directly opposed to the ideas of scien- 
tific men at the present day, I feel myself bound to declare at once 
that I have no intention to take up again the conclusions of the earlier 
chemists who gave a detailed analysis of the sugar cane. The error com- 
mitted by them of admitting in the juice of the ripe cane, the pie-exist- 
ence of a notable quantity of liquid sugar or molasses ready formed, 
could only be the result of experiments wanting in precision, and be- 
sides, such a theory has long been abandoned. I do not believe, and 
my own experiments agree perfectly with those mentioned by the most 
recent writers on the subject, that there exists in the healthy cane, 
.which has reached the full term of its development, a proportion of un- 
crystallizable sugar, sufficiently appreciable to cause much importance 
to be attached to it. But I have arrived at an opinion entirely contrary 
to that which is now entertained, when the question is as to the results 
furnished by every other part of the cane, except that which has under- 
gone the prolonged action of the solar rays, and as to the period at 
which this plant has been examined, and as to the primitive condition 
in which the sugar presents itself at different periods of vegetation. 
In order to render more clear the details on which I am about to 
enter, it is requisite to recall in a few words the characters peculiar to 
those substances which have been indistinctly designated by the name 
of sugar. The first group of such substances, the only ones which are 
of interest to us to know, and which can enter into the present investi- 
gation, is formed of those bodies which have the remarkable property of 
being directly changed into alcohol and carbonic acid when treated with 
yeast. 
Cane sugar (C 12 H 11 O 11 ) is distinguished from all other kinds by the 
property it has of crystallizing in large rhomboidal prisms, and the 
facility with which it is possible to obtain it in this state, when dis- 
solved in water. To the present time it has only been found in the 
vegetable kingdom, and vegetation is the only influence producing it. 
Glucose or grape sugar (C 12 H 12 12 +2 H 0) is found both in the 
vegetable and animal kingdom, and can also be formed artificially by 
various chemical processes. It precipitates in small glandular crystals, 
when dissolved in water, and the solution is concentrated slowly, or 
when it is left to itself for any considerable time. Less soluble than 
cane sugar in water, it has a saccharine taste, about three times less pro- 
nounced than cane sugar. Treated by a warm solution of potass 
