The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1869-03-20
The Sugar Insect. Acarus .Sacchari, =
FOUND IN RAW SUGAR.
BY ROBERT NIccoL, ESQ, SCOTLAND

Raw sugar should never be used for
dietetic or domestic purposes because
it contains organic impurities and
more especially immense numbers OF
disgusting-looking insects, termed the
Sugar Insect found to be invaria-
bly, present in RAW or UNREFINED
sugar This insect is known by scien-
titic men as the ACARUs SACCHARI
and when seen by the aid of q micros-
cope, is found very much to resemble
the sca-crab in its appearance.
The following are extracts from a
pamphlet on the subject by Professor
Cameron. of Dublin:
"In my capacity of public analyst
for the city of Dublin, have had oc-
casion to examine, more Or less min
utclv, nearly one hundred and fifty
specimens of sugar in quality varying
from the purest white to the darkest
brown The greater number of these
samples were perfectly genuine: some
were of rather indifferent quality: and
the rest-about fiftecn-were so i'm
pure as to be quite unfit for use they
abounded in organic filth, and con-
tanned great numbers of disgusting in
sects. All the samples of every infer
ior sugar were of the kind known as
raw: and in no instance did | detect in
the refined article the slightest trace of
any substance injurious to the health
or repugnant to the feelings With
such facts as these before me, and
writing in the interest of the consumer,
| advocate the exclusive use of refined
sugar. ! unhcsitatingly assert that no
one who pays any attention to the
purity of his food, aware Of the nature
of the impurities SO frequently abound
ing in the raw article, could, without a
feeling of loathing, make use of it. If
then, the exclusive use of sugar be 4
disideratum, it is not less desirable that
those who are engaged in the manufac-
ture of that article should receive due
encouragement, consistent, of course,
with the principles of free trade, from
the governing bodies, But it will
hardly be credited by those not well in
formed on the subject of our national
finances, that the present method of
levving the duty upon sugar is need
lessly inimcal to the British refner.-
1t is so arranged that it obliges the
planter to attempt, under the most adj
verse conditions, the refinement of
sugar: it compels the British refner to
purchase the semi-purifed article, and
to undo all that the colonial refiner had
done; and, finally, it makes the low
class sugar consumed by the poorer
classes pay more duty, in proportion to
the pure sugar present, than the super
ior article which is purchased by the
middle and upper classes The use of
raw sugar is rapidly on the decline and
| venture to hope that the publication
of this little treatise will aid to utterly
extinguish it. Should its pages be
glanced over by any influential member
of the Legislature, | trust it may be
the means of inducing him to turn his
attention to the present anomalous
method of levying the sugar duty, with
a view to its early information.
The insects found in sugar are
Beetles and ACARI. or mites. The
beetles, which are more familiarly
known to the sugar dealers than to the
general public, may frequently be seen
running nimbly along the tables in the
sugar warerooms. The Acari are min
nd 10 ~
ton. There are several kinds Of Acari :
the cheese mite, the insect found in
partially decomposed -four, and the
minute parasite. which, by burrowing
beneath the skin, produces the disease
termed the itch-are all different
varieties of Acari The mite found in
raw sugar is termed AcARUs sACcHARI,
or Sugar Insect.
1.-THE ACARUs sACCHARI is formid-
ably organ led, exceedingly lively, and
decidedly ugly, little animal. From its
oval-shapcd body, stretches forth a pro-
boscis ter! lating in kind Of scissors.
with which it scizes upon its food. Its
organs of ONO ion consist ofeight legs,
each jointri and furnished at its ex-
tremity N.,,! look. In the sugar, its
movements from one place to another
are neces >arily very slow, but when
placed on 4 perfectly clean and dry
surface, it moves along with great
rapidity. 1t has been stated that the
AcARUs s>ABIEI or itch insect, posses
ses the power of leaping, but all my at
tempts to induce the ACARUs sACcHARI
to make aiDmp failed, although it was
placed in the most favorable positions
for the performance Of such feat.
The disease termed PsoRA, or sea-
BIEs by medical men, but more popu-
larry known by the expressive designa-
ton of the itch, is, | venture to hope,
only known by name to my readers
1t is, admit, not nice theme to dis
course upon, more especially in con-
nection with such subject as sugar !;
but as this malady and its cause are
intimately connected with my objection
to the use of raw sugar as food, | can
not avoid-even at the risk of offending
the sensibilites of some of my readers
Abiding to them. So early as the
twelfth century, an Arabian physician,
named Abinzoar, observed that skin
disease was produced by the ravages
of little insects. They burrowed, he
says, beneath the skin of the hands,
legs and feet, and produced pustles,
containing fluid From the description
of these insects given by Abinzoar, it is
quite evident that they were not little
lice as he terms them, but species of
mite, or ACARUs. The same kind of
insect was noticed some centuries after
wards by many distinguished physi-
clans and naturalists, one of whom,
named Bonomo, described it by the
aid of drawing, in the year 16s3-
The itch, then, is proved to he produced
by this ACARUs making burrows be-
meath the skin, and depositing therein
its eggs; and hence the insect has been
named the AcARUs scABIEI, or scab
mite. Mango in horses, cattle and
dogs, and scab in sheep, are essentially
the same disease as itch in man As a
general rule the persons most liable to
be preyed upon by the AcARUs scABIEI
belong to the lower classes-in fact