Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-25

tury that a sugar of very good sweetening
power could be made from beets, the pro-
cesses of manufacture were not sufficiently
developed to permit of its being made COM
mercially. Sugar making from beet roots
has, under governmental encouragement,
risen to be great Industry in Germany.
This form of sugar is but slightly inferior to
sugar made from cane, and it is not, as usu-
ally supposed, form of glucose.
The production of glucose, a variety of
sugar, from the starch of potatoes, grain,
etc., by the action of sulphuric acid, was
known of early in the last century, but the
knowledge was not put to commercial uses
until few years ago.
Sugar in one form or another is one Of the
most widely distributed of vegetable sub
stances. In the form of sucrose or cane
sugar, it is present in and manufactured
from the following substances: sugar cane,
certain grasses, sorghum, stalks of maize or
Indian corn, certain roots, as carrots, pars-
nips, beets, etc., the sap of sugar maple, the
sap of certain palms. as cocoanut, wild date,
etc. Each of these various plants imparts
to the sugar obtained from it more or less
of characteristic taste, though this can be,
and sometimes is, eliminated.
SOMETHING ABOUT GLUCOSE.
Intimately mixed up with cane sugar in
nature (and, 1 am sorry to say, also in
commerce) is another sweet substance
called glucose. Artificial glucose is made
from any cheap form of starch by the action
of dilute sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol
This is now carried on industrially on a
large scale, the product being used to a con-
siderable extent to adulterate and cheaper
sugar and confectionery, and to an enormous
extent as a cheap substitute for malt in the
manufacture of beer and other malt
hcfi ha
cusable if it were not that glucose often
contains arsenic that has been deposited in
it from the oil of vitriol used in its manu-
facture.
Sugar is prepared from the cane by pass
ing the stalks, stripped of their leaves,
through rollers, thereby expressing the juice
containing the sugar, which is aiterward
crystallized out. After this capitalization
or extraction of the sugar, a "mother liquor"
is left behind. This mother liquor consti-
tutes molasses in the case of the preparation
of raw sugar, and treacle or golden syrup in
the preparation of refined sugar. Both mo-
lasses and treacle contain but little cane
sugar and great deal of glucose; the latter
being produced from the former by the ac-
ton of heat.
REFINING SUGAR.
The refining of sugar simply consists of
various processes by which the natural i'm
purities are extracted. Essentially the
method followed is one of filtration, first
through coarse cloth; then through bone
black, the beds of which are so feet thick,
to remove the color, SO that the resultant
sugar crystals. when formed, will be white
The physiological action of sugar is that
of a fat former and heat producer. With
the object of ascertaining the impurities in
the sugars of commerce, a series of analyses,
microscopical and chemical, were made
The average results of the examination for
impurities in IA samples of brown sugar, as
sold in the market, yielded the following
results:
Fragments of cane found in IA samples.
Bacteria found in IA samples.
Insects found in l3 samples.
Glucose in adulterative quantities found in
1c samples.
Arsenic found in sample.
Foreign mineral matters found in IA samples
Starch found in ! sample.
Sand found in sample.
Whiting found in sample
A SWEET MORsEL.
The fragments of cane and bacteria are
probably not injurious when taken into the
stomach. The sugar insect, as shown in the cut
is q formidable looking little animal which,
under the microscope. resembles nothing SO
much as louise, though very much smaller
than the latter, being barely visible to the
unaided eye as mere speck. Its body is
oval, and from its under surface eight legs
project. each of them being armed at its ex-
tremity with formidable hook. ANY one
who has microscope can find them in al
most any sample of brown sugar by dissolv-
ing a teaspoonful of the sugar in tepid water
in large wineglass and allowing it to settle
for an hour or two. Then, if the sediment
or the matter floating on the surface of the
solution be examined under microscope "a
pocket lens is not quite strong enough) the
mites may be seen squirming in confused
mass of organic and mineral filth. One look
is usually spfficientto to make any cleanly per-,
son forever after forego the sugar that is
brown. True, it is not likely that any
VERY SERIOUS RESULTS
ever follow the swallowing OF even large
quantities Of these insects; yet the idea is
mot pleasant. to say the least, and it is prob
able that many Of the symptoms attributed
to intestinal worms In children are in reality
due to these mites. Locally, they are prob.