SUG 
gle or double refined sugar. Sugar in this 
state is of a white colour : it is well known 
for its sweet taste ; it has little or no smell. 
It has Some degree of transparency when it 
is crystallized. It is considerably hard, but 
it is, brittle, and may be easily reduced to 
powder. It is phosphorescent in the dark. 
When the solution of sugar in water is concen- 
trated, it crystallizes in the form of six-sided 
prisms, terminated by two-sided summits. 
The specific gravity of sugar is 1. 4. When 
sugar is exposed to heat, it melts, swells up, 
becomes of a dark brown or black colour, 
emits air-bubbles with a peculiar smell, 
which has been called caromel. If a red 
heat be applied, it suddenly bursts into 
fiames, with a kind of explosion. It is very 
soluble in water ; at so low a temperature 
as 48" water dissolves its own weight of 
sugar. This power increases with the tem- 
perature of tlie water. When water is sa- 
turated with sugar, it is called syrup, which 
by concentration and rest affords crystals. 
Sugar is soluble in many of the acids. It is 
decomposed by sulphuric acid ; when heat 
is applied, the acid itself is decomposed, 
and converted into sulphurous acid ; and a 
great quantity of charcoal is deposited. 
Nitric acid acts on sugar with considerable 
violence ; an effervescence is produced, ni- 
trons gas is emitted, and the sugar is con- 
verted into oxalic and malic acids. Mu- 
riatic acid gas is slowly absorbed by sugar, 
which becomes of a brown colour, and ac- 
quires a very strong smell. Sugar is in- 
stantly dissolved when it is thrown in the 
state of powder into liquid oxymuria tic acid ; 
it is converted into malic acid, while the 
oxymuriatic acid is deprived of its oxygen, 
and reduced to the state of muriatic acid. 
Alcohol readily dissolves sugar. One part 
of sugar is soluble in four of boiling alcohol. 
Sugar also combines with the oils, and by 
this means they may be mixed with water. 
I'he fixed alkalies combine with sugar, and 
deprive it of its sweet taste ; but by adding 
sulphuric acid, and precipitating the sul- 
phate which is formed by means of alcohol, 
the taste is restored. .Some of the earths, 
as lime, combine with sugar, and form simi- 
lar compounds. The sulphurets and phos- 
phurets of the alkalies, and some of the 
earths, decompose sugar, and reduce it to 
a state somewhat similar to gum. By dis- 
tilling sugar in a retort; the first part of 
the product is water, nearly in a state of 
purity. Acetic acid with a little oil next 
comes over, and afterwards empyreumatic 
oil. A bulky carbonaceous matter, which 
SUI 
sometimes contains a little lime, remains- 
behind. Mr. Cruickshank obtained, by the 
distillation of 480 grains of pure sugar, by 
means of a red beat. 
- «*-' 
Acetic acid and ml 270 
Charcoal 120 
Carbonated hydrogen and ? 
carbonic acid gases 3 
481) 
Sugar, therefore, is composed ot oxygen, 
carbon, and hydrogen. 
The proportions of its constituent parts, 
'according to Lavoisier, are the following : 
Oxygen 64 
Carbon 28 
Hydrogen g 
100 
Sugar is also obtained from the juice of 
the maple tree in North America. See 
Maple. 
It has lately been proposed to extract 
sugar from the root of the beet ; and the 
attempt has been made, even in the large 
by Achard of Berlin. The process 
which he followed is to boil the roots, cut 
them into slices, and extract the Juice by 
pressure. 
Many otlier plants also contain sugar, 
either in the roots, the sap, or the seeds! 
It exists in wheat, barley, beans, peas, and 
other leguminous seeds, especially when 
they are young, in considerable quantity. 
The uses of sugar are so familiar, that it is 
scarcely necessary to enumerate them. In 
most countries, where it can be obtained, 
it may be considered in some measure as a 
necessary of life. It contains a great pro- 
portion of nutritions matter ; animals, when 
partially supplied with it, become fat and 
vigorous. It is not changed by the action 
of the air, so that it may be preserved for 
any length of time. It is employed to pre- 
serve other vegetable matters from putre- 
faction, and sometimes it is also advanta- 
geously applied to a similar purpose, in the 
preservation of animal substances. It is 
used likewise in the composition of some 
varnishes, of ink, and of some pigments, to 
communicate to them a degree of gloss or 
lustre. 
SUIT, in law, is used in different senses; 
first, in a suit of law ; and is divided into 
real and personal, and is the same with 
action real and personal ; secondly, suit of 
court, or suit service, is an attendance that 
tenants owe to the court of their lord. 
Thirdly, .suit covenant is where the ances- 
