The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-15 00:00:00

THE MEMODIAL TO HAMPDEN.

A memoral, consisting of an obelisk eight feet high, sur-
mounted by a Maltese Cross, is to be erected by public sub-
scription to John Hampden, in the field at Stoke Mandeville,
where the first assessment for ship-money was made. An
inscription, as follows, will be placed on the cross :—" For
these lands, in Stoke Mandeville, John Hampden was
assessed in twenty shillings, ship money, levied by com-
mand of the King without authority of law ; the 4th of
August, 1635. By resisting the claim of the King in legal
strife he upheld the rights of the people under the law, and
became entitled to grateful remembrance. His works on
earth ended after the conflict in Chalgrove Field, the 18th
of June, 1643, and he rests in Great Hampden Church."
We may record this as a singular improvement in taste
over the fact that several professed lovers of Hampden did
not scruple to dig up a body they believed to be his and
mutilate it, in order to decide how he was killed.—
At/be/mum.

THE MEMORIAL TO THE LATE LADY CANNING,
designed by Mr. 0. G. Scott, has been erected over
her grave. It is of Sicilian marble, composed of a massive
plinth supporting a coffin-shaped, horizontal slab, the top
of which is wrought with a floriated cross ; a shield of arms
is placed on either side of the stem of the cross. At the
head of the tomb a tall stone rises, wrought at the top into
a richly -carved cross, having an appropriate inscription
beneath it. _

SUGAR FROM SERPENTS' SKINS.—In 1861 M. de
Luca made some experiments, from which it ap•
peered that the skins cast off by silkworms might, be trans-
formed into eugar. The same chemist has sent in a paper
to the Academy of Sciences, in which he describes a similar
process for changing serpents' skins into sugar. These
skins contain a small quantity of a substance resembling the
cellulose of plants, soluble in ammoniuret of copper, and
transformable into glucose, which reduces the tartrate of
copper end potash, and ferments under the influence of
yeast, yielding thereby carbonic acid and alcohol. Concen-
trated sulphuric acid and a solution of potash are the best
re-agents for depriving serpents' skins of their nitrogenous
matter; the residue, although very refractory to chemical
agents, may nevertheless be transformed into fermentable
glucose, recognisable from its property of reducing the
tartrate of copper and potash. Thus, M. de Luca boiled 50
grammes of serpents' skins in a litre of water containing
40 grammes of caustic potash, the skins having been pre-
viously treated with concentrated sulphuric acid. The
liquid having been allowed to cool, a great deal of water was
added, and the undissolved residue was several times washed
by decantation, and then treated with ammoniuret of
copper, whereby an alkaline solution was obtained which,
on being neutralised by hydrochloric acid, yielded a white
precipitate; this, heated in slightly acidulated water, re-
duced the tartrate of copper and potash, thereby showing
that it was glucose, or the base of sugar. In another some-
what similar operation, glucose was obtained which fer-
mented in contact with yeast, producing carbonic acid and
alcohol. The former was completely absorbed by caustic
potash ; the alcohol extracted from the solution by distil-
lation, and insulated by means of crystallised carbonate of
potash, was nearly pure, since it would burn without leav-
ing any residue ; rubbed between the hands it evaporated,
emitting an agreeable smell, though still partaking of that
of animal matter. From all this it may be concluded that
serpents' skins contain a very small quantity of sugary
matter or glucose.—Galignani.