The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1860-07-21
SUGAR.

Till comparatively modern epoch, sugar
was neither considered 4 luxury nor a neces-
sary of life. II is a question whether it
was know n to the anciemts; but SllmariuS,
in his excitations upon Plny. and Malthio-
lus on Diosc0ries, lead US 10 believe that II
was so ; and, indeed, the former assures u
that the Arabs have used the art of making
sugar, as We now have il. far nearly thou
sand years. In the Bible illusions are made
10 ..tha which canae fSpEIs far
country - but the cane was not cultivated.
and the saccharine matter was allowed to-
% ze out of the cane itself, and Io harden
like gum. IL was known as Indian salt, ="
and only used "a medicine. for which pur-
pose. about eight hundred years ago, it be-
gan to take the place of honey.
Our word sugar is derived from the Ara
bic word soukGr. but its Latin name is sac
ch0runa. now applied to all sw.et-ta>ting
fluids. The sugar-can grows in any hot
climate. and is supposed TO have been
brought into Europe from the interior of
a ia TO Cyprus. thence to Sicily. MadeiIa,
and the Canaries. The Portuguese and
Spanish navigatnrs introduced it into the
West Indies and tropical America, whence
we now obtain our supplies of sugar.
There are cILer varieties of sugar pro-
duced lay different plants. Thus in North
| America large proportion Is extracted
from the maple-tree, ami III France from tie
beet-root. Sugar in plants IS analogous to
fat in animals as u it were the end a
plant had in view by its Vitality to produce
and lay up in store within iISelf-sugar
hence. the subservience of plants to man in
this case is eelf-evident. Nearly every
fiower-cup contains minute portion of su
gar. which. being gathered by bees. We are
| familiar with as honey, the peculiar flavor
of which depends upon the blossoms it is
taken from. Grapes are SO full Of sugar
that. when dried, white crystals of it are
found within the fruit, and which may be
cen when raisins are cut open.
| Mamma is kind of sugar which exudes
from certain plants-0iguL-as we see gum
does from plum trees in our gardens; but
tie analogy il not correct unless We under
stand that mamma covers the whole plant,
leaves and branches. The Arabians have
tradition that the mamma mentioned by Mo-
Sas fell from the clouds upon the plant slgul.
II Is now pretty well understood that the
natural constituents of plants do change
| from one substance TO another; as the worm
becomes the crysa.is and then the moth. SO
will starch become sugar, and sugar turn
acid at the plants behest.
| Sugar is most excellent and useful food,
and the Sweet tooth" of youth instinc
lively induces US to eat ii at time of life
NEST b fitting the animal economy. One
qusiity. however, of sugar renders it most
rtma,kable-the most important of all veg
etablA products tn msn-and that is its con-
vertibiliiy into alcohol or spirit. When
sugar is dissolved in water in contact with
certain fermenIing substances. or when the
sweet expressed juice of fruit Is allowed Ia
remain exposed for few days. an intestine
revolution takes place spontaneously-the
saccharine or sugar disappears, and in It's
place is found hat all potent liquid, alcohol.
Chemically speaking, the phenomenon Of
this change was the most difficult. the most
inscrutabie of explanation hence. the enor-
nous research of the philosophers for a
solution of the problem.
| Where the laborers are many, the harvest
should be fruitful and SO il has been IN
this instance. The researches into the elixir
of life. or aqua Uite. as it is termed. have
been the foundation of the most sublime OF
sciences-chemical philosophy. As We
have stated. starch is convertible into sugar.
and this often takes place without our cog
nizance. Potatoes consist of nearly all
starch when '.frosted" they become sweet,
the starch turns TO sugar. Nearly all seeds
contain starch; and when they begin to
terminate, the starch becomes sugar, ft food
for the young plant till it has acquired
| leaves thus barley Is made TO grow. In
the hands of the maltster, che starch in the
barley becomes sugar: the conversion of
this malt into liquor. whisky, etc., is then
The new garb of sugar.
The following are the approximate guam
titles Of sugars produced annually in differ
j ent parts Of the world; Cane sugar, e5.-