, 1876-05-13

sugar is probably more fascinating than that OF
any other food. product. 1t might be urged
generally that the lessons Taught by the tx.
peflence OF the past, If learned Alright, become
the best guides for future conduct. But fur.
ther than this it may be demonstrated that the
history OF this commodity, viewed BIZ the
light of the knowledge we now possess. leads
US, by a natural course of induction, to the
main causes Of the present depression in the
cane sugar Industry, and by difference, on the
other hand, furnishes a clue to the secret OF
the prosperity of that of beet sugar. ~ Deep.
" Interesting as it would prove to trace in
tuII the history of sugar, however, it would
manlfe5lly be out of place, in a series of papers
winch are designed to be chiefly practical, to
do more than advert to a few of the facts
which bear directly upon the questions
at issue. ~.
In tracing back the use of honey as an
article of food one becomes lost in the mists
OF legend and fable. ga land flowing with
milk and honey offered the highest ooncerv8.
bic advantages to the Eastern mind long before
the existence of the sacred record and the
practice of sweetening food in order to render
1t more p~alatable is probably the earliest in.
stance OF mans indt lgence in what NAV be re-
garded as a luxury. To the prevalence of
lhls taste amongst a people subsiSting almost
ehIIreIy upon the spontaneous productions Of
the earth, the discovery of the sugar cane is
probably due. Among the natives of India
however, there is a popular tradition that, in
ages long past, a vessel left one of her crew.
under a desperate fit of sickness. on g desert
island far away in the Eastern seas. Some
Time afterwards the same island was again
visited and, to their great establishment. the
Ola sailor presented himself before them per.
ieotiy recovered, and even in a state of health
better than common. 1t was naturally en-.
CURED OF him, what was the physio be had
used, and he showed them the sugar cane, on
winch he declared BIO had subsisted, almoss
entirely, since their departure.
EtymoI0gjsts now pretty generally concur
Aa the opinion Of Humboldt that the words
employed by western nations TO signify what
Is known in English as 50 sugar. are ali deriv-
ed trom the Sauscrit word sarkara, sakkara. or
Snccar; and SanScrit is known to have been
the ancient tongue of the Uindoos. (3(
"Shahh&r" is, at the PR sent day, a common
appreciation OF sugar in Uindostan. The sugar
cone, (sacchar4h2 o65ctnarumJ was not only
found in India, but also in Siam, China and
Japan from the most remote antiquity. 1T
was also known to the ancient Jews. In
several parts fthe Old Testament the sweet
cane IS referred to, and it was apparently an
49, COuHH6 AlUW d lat
country" The Western world first
heard Of sugar through the oonquests Of
Alexander the Great. Noarehus, the com.
mander OF the feet in the great Indian
expedition, left the Indus on the 2lst
Of September, B.. c.. 325, and arrived at
ou8a, in Persia, sometime in February 324.
In lhe fragments Of his own narrative of the
voyage, preserved In the Ldico Of Arrian, is
10 be found the first mention Of sugar, which
ne describes as a" kind Of honey growing in
canes or reeds. Following tots we find Theo-
Phrastu8 (B. G. 321,) referring to a "sort OF
honey F" procured " from canes or reeds Isl
Farro Us. q. 68) mentions the " exceeding
sweetness OF the Indian reed, p" but saws that
the juice is derived from the root of the plant.
(6) Dioscorides (B. G. 49,, in a chapter on
a. "Tho value of a knowledge Of The origin
OF the materials which form the objects of COM
mercial enterprise and manufacturing industry
can hardly be ov~er-estimated the little we have
known OF them has been the cause of our great
pro-eminence as a nation, and eUery neU fact ae
hare learned Of their history has assisted in in.
oreaslng the value of our manufactures" Prof.
!. c. Archer, Vegetable Products Of the World.
10 Of upwards ola score of writer's who have
protested to give the history Of sugar, and the
plants from which it is derived, not one has pro-
duced anything worthy Of the nome. A compre.
hensiVe history of this substance is still a desider-
alum, and if penred 6y an able writer, might be
made one of the most absorbing volumes it is
possible to imagine.
81 The Arabic and Persian name for sugar is
Ill L TLs