The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1889-10-12
HOUSES OF G
Claus Spreck~Is' New Idea and What Diff
ferent Ones Think of 1t.

NAduS SpfecRTIS New IDEA ana what Dir
ferent Ones Think of 1t.
The scheme of utilizing sugar for
building purposes in place of marble,
which the re~doubtable Claus Spreckels
declares to be feasible, has stirred up
lots of interest among the sugar men as
we'll as stone cutters
Spreckels says his sugar experts were
asked to find a means for hardening the
sugar he shipped to Mexico, and they did
SO. 1t had become necessary to get a
process of this kind, as the sugars dis
solved and washed considerably while en-
route there.
The success of the new process made
him think the crystals could be hardened
for building purposes and made to with
stand heat and water.
1t has been demonstrated to his salts
faction, he declares, that the thing can
be done. The tests already made show
that sugar blocks for interior decoration
cc-.ld even now be furnished. Great
blocks for the exterior Of buildings, he
thinks, will be eventually, and he pre-
diets that the proposed new wing of the
White House in Washington will be of
that material,
A reporter talked with a lot of the
trust people the other day about the
new discovery. They had consulted
with their experts about it, and all were
at a loss to conceive of a method which
might effect the desired result.
No matter how hard sugar was made
water would dissolve it, and it would
melt under nominal heat. There was no
comparison between sugar and marble.
They were composed of entirely differ
ent elements. Marble, carbonic acid
and lime, which form into a compound
of carbonate of lime. Water has no
effect on this substance, and it would
take ten minutes of a white heat tenn
perature to d~isintegrate it, the experts
said.
Sugar is composed of oxygen, hydro
gen and carbon, a compound substance
that heat, water or shock readily drives
back into its elements, and no chemical
substance car preserve it's integrity, the
sugar men conclude. and rest contented.
OF a similar opinion is DR.. Gideon F.
Moore, the eminent chemist, who is con-
stantly called upon to make sugar tests.
But he does not say that a process gen
orally unknown to science at present
ma not have been discovered.
He showed the reporter a block of
sugar about an inch square in thickness.
1t was perfectly transparent. 1t looked
hard, but could be easily cut with a
knife or bitten.
There is the natural formation of
sugar crystals" the doctor explained.
"The sugar is in the same state now as it
was when pulverized. Just taste it; you
will see it is as sweet as ever.
Pressure could not solidify crystals
more than they are now, and I know of
no chemical preparation that could pos
sibly do it.
eff q way of making sugar harder
than this has been found it is something
new in chemistry, and if the blocks can
be made insensible to water OF nominal
heat the discovery is wonderful"
The statement that Spreckels made
about the new huiIding< sugar, putting
marble completely in the shade, because
of its superior beauty, no n who studies
each specimen under a magnifying in
strument will doubt.
The sugar is like a rainbow, excepting
that each crystal represents an irregular
block.
If finely cut as marble is, a block Of
sugar might reflect every ray of light,
making it glisten like a diamond.
There can be no question about its
beauteous effects, and if it can be pre-
pared at all, it can be gotten up much
cheaper than marble.
The only difficulty to be overcome is
the natural disposition of the sweet stuff
to melt. The trouble now is that sugar
issugar whether soft or hard, and a piece
from the corner stone of a sugar house
would taste just as good to the small boy
as if it were stolen from a bowl.-New
York News.