Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
March,  1884.  j 
Sugar  in  Tobacco. 
149 
conviction  for  saturating  tobacco  plants  with  a  solution  of  a  special 
and  elsewhere  unknown  variety  of  sugar. 
In  cases  of  suspected  sophistication  the  fermentation  method  of 
analysis  would  probably  be  adopted,  and  then  as  much  as  13  per  cent, 
of  natural  saccharoid  matter,  or  possibly  more,  might  be  obtained 
from  tobacco.  I  myself  have  examined  a  large  number  of  commerical 
samples  of  tobacco,  both  uncut  leaf  and  cut,  in  the  form  especially  of 
cigarettes,  and  I  have  obtained  by  this  method  percentages  of  saccharoid 
matter  varying  from  4  to  12J.  Even  a  specimen  of  a  popular  dark 
colored  tobacco,  specially  fermented  to  develop  highly  prized  odors 
and  flavors,  but  which,  as  chemists  would  expect,  had  probably  lost 
much  of  its  sugar  during  the  process,  yielded  3  per  cent,  of  tobacco 
sugar  and  b\  per  cent,  of  total  saccharoid  matter.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  greatest  yield  of  sugar  from  the  trade  samples  is  less  than  the 
maximum  from  my  standard  samples  of  genuine  tobacco.  The  average 
yields  of  the  two  sets  were  very  close,  both  being  very  near  to  10J 
per  cent.  The  results  indicated,  therefore,  that  the  trade  samples  did 
not  contain  added  sugar. 
If  a  sample  of  tobacco  contained  added  sugar  its  percentage  of 
matter  soluble  in  water  would  also  be  raised,  and  the  proportion  of 
matter  insoluble  in  water  pro  tanto  be  reduced.  My  authentic  samples 
yielded  from  32  to  37J  per  cent,  of  insoluble  matter,  the  average  being 
35*7  One  set  of  commercial  samples  yielded  an  average  of  35'9  per 
cent,  of  insoluble  matter  ;  the  assumption  of  any  systematic  sophistica- 
tion of  these  by  sugar  was,  therefore,  again  negatived. 
The  sugar  in  tobacco  appears  to  possess  little,  if  any,  action  on  polar- 
ized light.  Such  a  fact  would  be  of  considerable  importance  in  any 
examination  of  tobacco  infusion  for  added  sugar, — sucrose,  glucose, 
lactose,  etc., — which  all  exert  well-marked  dextro-rotatory  or  lsevo- 
rotatory  power  on  polarized  light.  The  commercial  samples  of  tobacco 
I  have  myself  recently  examined,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  yielded 
infusions  which,  even  when  colorless,  did  not  preceptibly  affect  a 
polarized  ray  ;  therefore,  with  a  bare  exception  they  were  unadulterated 
by  sugar.  Certainly  samples  forwarded  to  me  by  officials  of  the 
Customs  in  London,  at  the  request  of  owners,  did  not  contain  added 
sugar.  But  the  fact  has,  also,  theoretical  importance,  for  the  existence 
of  a  tabacose,  as  we  may  term  it,  if  it  is  a  true  sugar,  having  such 
properties,  would  point  to  the  existence  of  a  sub-class  of  fermentible 
