368 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
the use of alkalies, in order to avoid and overcome some of this / 
loss. 
The chemist who makes an experiment, solves the problem 
of the extraction of sugar by the use of alcohol. By this 
agent he separates the saccharine matter from the fermenting 
substances, and destroys the latter without injuring the former, 
thus preserving the sugar from any destructive influence. But 
this course will not answer for a large operation. There it is 
necessary that the agent should be cheap and easily managed. 
Alcohol is dear, its use requires the greatest precaution, and is 
very dangerous. So, setting aside alcohol, is it possible for 
chemistry to produce a substance which has the properties es¬ 
sential for this case, and which, like alcohol, will prevent its 
fermentation, even when exposed to the air ? 
In the Sugar Cane there is sugar dissolved in water ; never¬ 
theless it rests in that condition a long time without any change. 
If we could make use of water, as a dissolvent, in the same 
manner that nature does, we could extract the sugar without 
destroying its quality. The difficulty exists neither in the wa¬ 
ter nor in the sugar, but in the fermenting matter contained in 
cells formed by the tissue, which the contact of the water and air 
put into motion. This being the case, if it were possible on a 
large scale to crush the cane in a vacuum, to extract and boil 
the juice without removing it, the problem would be solved.— 
But it is not, though much has been done in that line in boil¬ 
ing the juice, and by pressing mills lately patented. 
Experimenting with various substances, and having in view 
the discovery of some substance which would prevent the fer¬ 
mentation during the extraction of the juice in contact with the 
air, and while cold, and profiting by the coagulation of the fer¬ 
menting substances caused by heat in boiling, M. Melsens 
sought for some substance having a great affinity for oxygen, 
but without action on the sugar, or danger to man,—a substance 
which was cheap, easy to produce everywhere, or to transport 
when it was needed. 
His experiments and information pointed him to the use of 
