BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION, 465 
of Béchamp that Berthelot* was led to remark that ‘* the ‘ glu- 
cose de ligneux,’ still little known, appears to be distinct from all 
other glucoses,” though it may be that he recognized more clearly 
than some of his successors have done that, until it has actually 
been crystallized, the dextrose obtainable from wood or cotton is 
a distinctly impure product. 
VI. It has been taught by several chemists in recent years 
that (barring xylose, which may be obtained in small quantity 
from wood cellulose) no other sugar than dextrose is obtainable 
on hydrolizing cellulose with acids, and the experiments here 
recorded consist with this opinion. But, in so far as relates to 
the quantity of dextrose that can be obtained from a given weight 
of cellulose, I find myself unable to agree with several standard 
authorities. On the contrary, I would urge, in view of the lack 
of purity of the dextrose syrups obtained on hydrolyzing cellulose, 
that it is difficult to escape the conviction that most of the cur- 
rent statements as to the very large proportion of dextrose that 
may be obtained from a given weight of cellulose must have been 
somewhat exaggerated. For the most part, those observers who 
have obtained large yields of dextrose from cellulose appear to 
have based their statements solely on the quantity of cupric 
oxide reduced by the product of their hydrolysis, — that is, their 
statements refer to the quantity of reducing matter shown by 
Fehling’s liquor when the product of the hydrolysis came to be 
tested. It is seldom that any experimenter has based his declared 
results on a definite quantity of dextrose actually separated from 
the liquor and weighed. But as the foregoing experiments show 
there are contained usually in the saccharine solutions, which 
result from the hydrolysis of cellulose, other matters beside dex- 
trose that are capable of reducing no inconsiderable quantities of 
Fehling’s liquor. | 
VII. In the light of existing knowledge it is to be presumed 
that the ‘‘ matter insoluble in alcohol,” so constantly referred to 
on the foregoing pages, consists for the most part of a more or 
less impure ‘‘ dextrin”? which has resulted from the decomposition 
of the copulated acid that was formed in the beginning by the 
* Annales de Chimie et de Physique. 1859 (3), 55. 2938. 
+ Compare Lippmann, Chemie der Zuckerarten, Braunschweig. 1895, 
page 104. 
