May 20,1871.] 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
938 ^ 
by Mr. Clark ; ‘ Opium,'* by Mr. Lane; ‘ Metrical Sys¬ 
tem of Weights and Measures,’ by Mr. Spencer; ‘ Medi¬ 
cinal Uses of Vegetables and their Preparations,’ by Mr. 
Binns; ‘ Vegetable Tissue,’ by Mr. Yeats; ‘The''Pro¬ 
posed Poison Regulations,’ by Mr. B. H. Cowgill; ‘ Con¬ 
centrated Infusions,’ by Mr. Mercer. 
“ Besides the above, on four occasions, Mr. Clark has 
examined and explained the nature, etc. of the specimens 
contained in the cabinets of the Chemists and Druggists’ 
Association. There have also been some very interesting 
discussions upon ‘ The Dispensing of Prescriptions,’ and 
the various modes of prescribing adopted by the medical 
profession. 
“ On referring to the poison regulations question, we 
are of opinion that the course to be pursued as decided 
at the meeting of the Pharmaceutical Council on April 
5th, will meet with your entire approval. 
“The memorial signed by the members of this Asso¬ 
ciation and other assistants, numbering in all 97, against 
the passing of any compulsory regulations for the keep¬ 
ing and dispensing of ‘poisons,’ was presented at the 
above meeting of the Pharmaceutical Council by Mr. 
W. S. Brown. 
“ We are happy to state that in a pecuniary sense our 
affairs are satisfactory, there being a balance in the hands 
of the Treasurer of ios. lQy. 
“ On retiring from our office, we unanimously express 
a wish that this Association may prosper. We are sure 
that in many ways it has been, and will continue to be 
most advantageous in point of usefulness, instruction 
and intercourse.” 
The report being confirmed, the election of officers and 
committee for the ensuing year then took place (by 
ballot), when the following were elected :—• 
President, Mr. W. Lane; Vice-President, Mr. Allcock; 
Secretary, Mr. Clark; Treasurer, Mr. Dickinson; Com¬ 
mittee, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Harrison, Mr. Headley, Mr. 
Mercer, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Tyson. 
After a vote of thanks to the retiring officers and com¬ 
mittee, the meeting terminated. 
DUNDEE CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS’ 
ASSOCIATION. 
A Meeting of the above Association was held in their 
room, 71, High Street, on Tuesdav evening, May 2nd; 
Mr. W. Laird, President, in the chair. 
The Secretary, Mr. James Russell, presented a col¬ 
lection of drugs from Messrs. Hodgkin son, Stead and 
Treacher; and also, in the name of Messrs. Evans, 
Sons and Co., wholesale druggists, Liverpool, one of their 
cabinets of materia medica, containing upwards of 300 
specimens of drugs and chemicals, with descriptive tables. 
The President, in accepting the gift, expressed a hope 
that the Association—particularly the junior members, 
for whose benefit the gift was especially intended—would 
largely avail themselves of the advantage that so com¬ 
plete a collection of the articles used in their profession 
placed within their reach, and moved that a special vote 
of thanks be sent to the firms, and acknowledgment made 
in the local and trade journals. 
Mr. Jack seconded, and Mr. Doig and others supported 
the motion, which was carried. 
Mr. F. Young presented a copy of ‘ Barber’s Medical 
Botanical Chart of the World,’ the gift of Mr. Charles 
Kerr, and suggested that the assistants should combine 
and form a class for the study of materia medica, to 
which end the chart would be a useful companion to the 
cabinet, and said that from his own experience of the 
benefits derived from his attendance at the class for 
chemistry, conducted by the President during the past 
two sessions, the time would be well spent. 
A collection of crystals, the gift of Mr. Laird, was also 
exhibited during the evening. 
_ _ o o 9 
Mr. Ross proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman, 
which was cordially carried. 
SOCIETY OF ARTS. 
The Extraction of Sugar from Beetroot and Cane.. 
At the Meeting of the Society of Arts on the loth 
March, Mr. Ferdinand Ivoiin, C.E., road a paper on 
the “ Different Methods of Extracting Sugar from Beet¬ 
root and Cane,” of which the following is an abstract: — 
The two plants at present principally used in the 
manufacture of sugar are beetroot and cane. The sugar 
in both these plants exists dissolved in the juice which 
is held within the vegetable cells; but the character 
and composition of the solutions are different in the 
two kinds of juice. Beetroot juice contains from 7 to 15 
per cent, of sugar, a considerable proportion of insoluble 
and soluble albumen and a quantity of salts, which 
generally give to it an alkaline character. The cane 
juice contains insoluble nitrogenous matter, soluble al¬ 
bumen and certain salts ; but its reaction is always acid, 
and its contamination with salts is less in proportion 
than that of the beetroot. The percentage of sugar in 
cane juice ranges widely, but maybe taken as averaging 
from 15 to 20 per cent, in that from ripe cane. Cane 
juice generally contains also a sensible proportion of 
glucose, different in composition from cane sugar, and 
incapable of being crystallized in the ordinary processes 
of sugar manufacture ; but beetroot contains only a 
small percentage of it. The beetroot contains about 
96 per cent, of juice and only 4 per cent, of a solid in¬ 
soluble substance which forms the pulp. The sugar¬ 
cane is composed of 90 per cent, of juice, the remaining 
10 per cent, being 'wood-fibre, in the shape of cane-trash 
or bagasse. The sugar is extracted from these plants 
by separating the saccharine solution from the surround¬ 
ing solid masses. 
The traditional and most primitive method of extract¬ 
ing the juice from beetroot and cane is by mechanical 
pressure. By the compression of the raw material the 
cellular structure of the tissues is destroyed, and the 
liquid contents of the individual cells forced out from, 
the solid residue. Juice so expressed is consequently 
charged with the impurities originally contained in the 
plant, and intermixed with minute fragments of the 
fibrous solid mass that have been disintegrated by the 
action of the mechanical force. The beetroot before being- 
exposed to this process of extraction requires to be re¬ 
duced to a fine pulp by means of a so-called “pulper,” 
or rasp. It generally consists of a double revolving 
drum fitted with toothed saw blades or scrapers, which 
being rapidly rotated, effects the disintegration of the- 
roots and converts the mass into a fine soft pulp. The- 
pulp is then placed into woollen bags and subjected to 
pressure in a powerful hydraulic press, by which process 
the juice is forced through the meshes of the bags andi 
the solid residue formed into a dry dense cake. In con¬ 
sequence of the imperfect breaking up of the vegetable - 
cells by the action of the rasp, a quantity averaging- 
about 14 per cent, of the juice remains in the residue, 
which is not sensibly affected by increase or longer 
duration of the pressure. About another five per cent, 
of juice, however, may be obtained by the expedient cf 
mixing the water with the pulp in the process of rasp¬ 
ing; the water, by the action of endosmosis and exos¬ 
mosis, effecting a partial extraction of the sugar con¬ 
tained in the unbroken cells. 
The extraction of sugar from the cane by the applica¬ 
tion of pressure in the ordinary roller-mill, is a method 
defective in several important points, which were well 
set out by Mr. Henry Bessemer in the specification for a 
patent of a hydraulic press invented by him twenty 
years ago. In order to extract the juice by.its means 
the rollers must be set sufficiently close to give a very 
tight pinch, but not close enough to break up the cane- 
i trash, which would be thereby lessened in value as lueh. 
