OXALATE OF ALUMINA IN MANUFACTURING SUGAR. 219 
ART. LXVI — ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE OXALATE OF 
ALUMINA IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANE AND BEET- 
ROOT SUGAR. 
By. M. Mialhe. 
In the course of my researches on digestion and assimila- 
tion I have frequently had occasion to observe the energetic 
action which the caustic or carbonated alkalies exert on 
glucose, as well as on cane and beet-root sugar, modified 
by acids or merely by the simple action of heat— a chemi- 
cal action to which M. Peligot has directed the special at- 
tention of chemists and manufacturers. My observations 
have led me to reflect on the serious inconveniences which 
must necessarily result from the use of milk of lime in the 
clarification of sugars. " All the efforts of the manufactu- 
rer," says M. Dumas, "should be directed towards improv- 
ing the mode of clarification, by avoiding as much as possi- 
ble the use of sulphuric acid, which destroys the crystalli- 
zable sugar, and the use of the lime itself, which always 
imparts a urinous taste to the secondary products, and de- 
creases their value." But can the employment of lime be 
suppressed in the clarifying of sugars ? I think not. How 
then shall we proceed ? 
The first condition is to get rid of all the lime after clari- 
fication by means of some chemical agent, which itself is 
without action on the sugar. Animal charcoal answers but 
imperfectly ; the employment of the oxalate of alumina, 
which I propose to substitute for it wholly or in part, admits 
of solving this important problem in a most satisfactory 
manner. 
In explaining the theory of the action of the oxalate of 
alumina, I may call to mind, — 1st, that cane or beet-root 
sugar, dissolved in lime-water and evaporated to dryness, 
does not become coloured during evaporation ; 2d, that 
glucose and cane-sugar, after having experienced the 
