Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-04-07
The Inhabilants of Ram Sngar.

One Of the editors Of the New York Sun
has been making some microscopic cxamiua-
tions, ana this is the way he reports--all for
the good Of the public, of course, and not at
all in the interest of the sugar rofner -
3" Last night we saw the hidden wonders of
raw sugar as they were revealed to us by q
microscope Of uncommon power and great
detective ability, which will forever set US
against all sweets in that form with an inten-
s,ty Of horror, such as 10 man can conceive
who has not been behind the scenes. We saw
the living hell itself however, in less than a
quarter of an ounce of raw sugar. There
were myriads, apparently, Of horrible insects
as large as beetles, aud having the appearance
of crabs. -Four dreadful legs with claw
pincers at the end Of them, jonted in four
parts as with armor, and bristling with sharp
pointed spears, were in front Of the monster,
and his head was long pyramidal form in
two joints, with five finger tips at the termi-
nus, where the mouth ought to have been.
The body was oyal-shaped and marked al
most exactly like that of crab, only upon
the rims of an inner circle upon the back
there were twelve more of those long sharp
spears, with two at the tail and four snake
like tentacula, exceedingly fine in articulation,
and no doubt intended ike puss's whiskers to
be feelers, TO warn the hinder end parts of
contiguous danger The reverse side showed
the uginess of the beast even more than the
diverse; but it also showed the wondrous
mechanical genius of the maker of it. Each
l,,,,k ,ullnI hxr IS Y,ttealo OF tba
base, which gave the impression of immense
trelative) power, and over the muscle there
was case OF armor through which it showed.
Talk about lively beasts, and lively they
were. Eager, restless, rayenous always fall
ling foul Of each other, or attacking great
joints of sugar, as large in reality as a mathe-
matcial point. With the pincers attached
to the end of each proboscis they caught hold
Of one another, and tore one another, repeat
ing in their small way the enormous tragedies
of Tennyson's primal monsters. The way
these maryels came to light was this A
spoonful Of raw, coarse sugar was dissolved
in about three times the quantity Of water
when, as if with a conjurers rod, the animal.
cules sprang to the surface and Hoated there
swimming about, and up and down, like the
beasts that wriggle in soft water tubs, aud
finally turn into flies resembling mosquitoes
but harmless. These sugar animalcules, or
acarus sacchari, as the scientific men call
them, were then gathered up in a spoon, and
placed under glass magnifying about POO
times. They could be seen, however, with
the naked eye, to begin with, but not in Their
entire hideousness until the object gas;
brought it out. 1t has been proved that in
every pound of unrefned raw sugar, there arc
l00,0 900 of these acari. In Is grains weight
DR.. Hassall of London found 100 Of these
insects; and DR.. Barke of the royal college
of surgeons, ireland, found ! 400 in 40 grains
weight, or 26S,000 in pound, Worse still
as a matter of aesthetics, this is the very same
insect that bores into the skin of its victims
in Scotch beds and treats them to taste OF
Scotch fiddle, alias the itch"