148 
Sugar  in  Tobacco. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      March,  1884. 
once  asked  six  or  eight  of  my  chemical  and  pharmaceutical  friends, 
residing  in  different  parts  of  the  great  tobacco-producing  States  of 
America,  namely,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  North  Carolina,  to  obtain 
for  me  authentic  samples  of  genuine  tobacco.  Each  correspondent, 
kindly,  at  once,  acceded  to  my  request.  Neither  was  in  any  way  con- 
nected with  the  tobacco  interest,  each  resided  many  miles  from  the 
rest,  and  neither  of  my  friends  knew  that  others  were  simultaneously 
collecting  samples  for  me. 
While  waiting  for  these  authentic  samples  of  American  tobacco 
leaves  I  ascertained  that  such  precipitants.as  basic  acetate  of  lead  and 
lime  water  would  remove,  from  tobacco  infusions,  alcohol-yielding 
material,  equivalent,  on  the  average,  to  about  3  per  cent,  of  the  tobacco. 
The  saccharoid  matter  not  thus  separated  may  be  termed  tobacco  sugar  ; 
while  this,  together  with  the  fermentible  matter  precipitated  by  the 
reagents  named,  may  be  termed  total  saccharoid  matter. 
The  samples  from  the  United  States  duly  reached  me.  They  yielded 
the  following  results  : 
IN  100  PARTS  OF  TOBACCO  LEAF. 
Tobacco  Sugar. 
Total  Saccharoid  Matter. 
7-00 
9-87 
5-57 
8-61 
c  
7-76 
10-94 
D  
*  9-60 
12-80 
E  
7-13 
10  -20 
9-29 
12-40 
5-57 
8-23 
6-81 
10  -10 
7-38 
10  -39 
The  inference  is  obvious,  namely,  that  tobacco  does  contain  sugar, 
the  amount  varying  from  mere  traces,  in  tobacco  grown  under  condi- 
tions not  favorable  for  the  production  of  sugar  within  the  plant,  up  to 
nearly  10  per  cent.,  or  possibly  more,  in  the  light  colored  or  bright 
Virginian  leaf.  I  say  that,  bearing  in  mind  the  origin  and  the  results 
of  the  analyses  of  these  specimens,  their  sugar,  or  fermentible  saccharoid 
matter,  is  natural ;  unless  we  make  the  absurd  assumption  that  amongst 
tobacco  growers  there  exists  a  secret  yet  apparently  universally  enforced 
