Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
May,  1895. 
Sweet  Cassava. 
263 
The  amount  of  starch  compares  fairly  well  with  the  best  varieties 
of  potatoes.  On  account  of  the  large  quantities  of  sugars  present, 
the  cassava  root  could  be  more  economically  used  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  glucose  than  for  starch. 
A  larger  quantity  of  the  root  was  obtained  from  Florida,  the  bark 
separated  from  the  root,  and  each  subjected  to  analysis,  with  the 
following  results  : 
Peded  Root. 
Fibre  after 
removal 
of  Starch. 
Bark  of  Root. 
Fresh. 
Dry. 
Dry. 
Fresh. 
Dry. 
Albuminoids  (N  X  6' 35)  ■ 
Starch  
Fibre  .......... 
Ash  
Undetermined  .  .  . 
Per  Cent. 
61-30 
•17 
•64 
30-98 
•88 
'5i 
5*52 
Per  Cent. 
•44 
1-66 
80  06 
2  "26 
i'3i 
14-27  - 
Per  Cent. 
•30 
I*02 
64-64 
io-68 
1-42 
21  94 
Per  Cent. 
61^30 
•66 
2*29 
383 
2  02 
29  90 
Per  Cent. 
170 
5*9  * 
989 
5'23 
77  27 
IOQ-OO 
IOO  "OO 
10000 
IOO'OO 
IOQ-OO 
With  the  starch  in  the  analysis  given  above  is  reckoned  also  the 
soluble  carbohydrates,  consisting  almost  exclusively  of  cane  sugar, 
and  of  which,  in  an  analysis  of  another  portion  of  the  dry  sub- 
stance, as  high  as  17  per  cent,  was  found.  In  the  laboratory  it 
is  not  difficult  to  prepare  crystallized  cane  sugar  from  the  aqueous 
extract  of  the  fresh  pulp.  The  percentage  of  sugar  in  the  plant, 
however,  is  too  low  to  excite  any  reasonable  hope  of  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  article  on  a  commercial  scale.  The  most  promising  way 
to  save  it  is  by  conversion  into  glucose,  as  indicated  in  another 
place.  The  undetermined  portion  consists  of  the  digestible  fibre 
and  carbohydrates  of  the  pentose  series.  The  pentosans  in  the  fibre 
were  determined  by  the  furfurol  process,  as  modified  by  Krug,  and 
the  amount  in  the  air-dried  material  was  found  to  be  3  92  per  cent., 
and  in  the  material  after  the  removal  of  the  starch,  5-33  per  cent. 
The  amount  of  mineral  matter  taken  from  the  soil  by  the  ico 
kilos  of  the  fresh  root  is  approximately  only  one-half  a  kilo.  The 
