The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-06-19
HISTORY OF SUGAR.
From the Earliest Record to the Present
Time.

From the Boston Herald.
HerodOtus, in whose works we find
the earliest record of manufacturing sac
Charine substances, informs us that a
tribe III Africa called the Zygantes had,
besides hOneybees. a much greater
quantity made by man." 1t has also
been stated that Nearchus, the chief
Admiral of Alexander the Great dis
covered concerning canes that they make
honey without bees" Very ancient races,
therefore, were acquainted with the fact
that certain canes yield sweet juices,
and being ignorant of any methods
of purifying these juices, their
sugar could not be got to crystalline, and
resembled honey in consistency as well
as in taste. Megasthenes, however,
writes much later concerning ''the India
stone sweeter than figs or honey" so
that by this time some rude method of
crystallizing or solidifying the juice had
been discovered. The early Jewish his
tOrians make no mention of sugar, the
only sweet substance habitually used by
the Hebrews being honey; but Isaiah
speaks of ''sweet cane" and there is "A
disputed allusion to il in the Song of
Solomon. II was not until about the
commenCcueut Of the Christian era that
sugar was spoken Of by an appropriate
name. elm india and Arabia Felix"
writes DioscOnicles. "a kind of concrete
honey is called saccharOn." This term is
evidently adapted from the Arabic
assOkar or shuker, which itself is derived
from the Sanscrit sharkara. 1t is rather
odd that the Hebrew word for being
intoxicated is shacer, a word that
is evidently closely connected with
the Arabic; it Is interesting, too, when
we remember the ready conversion
of sweet liquids into alcohol. There
seems to be little doubt that the origin of
the manufacture of sugar must be sought
for in India and Arabia. Pliny says:
''As for sugar, there is of it in Arabia,
but the best cometh out Of India. A
kind Of honey it is, gathered and candied
in certain canes: white. this IS like gum
(Arabic). and brittle between a mans
teeth. The grains hereof, when they are
at the biggest. exceed not flbert nut,
and serve for a physic.' Sugar, a.
known TO the ancients, must have been
far less palatable than it Is now. In pre-
pairing il the canes and their roots were
frequently boiled, 80 that certain bitter
and aromatic principles must needs have
been extracted. The quality impaired
to the sugar by this process might have
determined its use for medicinal pUT-
poses. It is certain that sugar was only
regarded as q sort OF medicine for several
centuries. and confirmation OF TINS state
ment NAV be found in the fact that
il is rarely mentioned except
by physicians and learned
men. nor with tolerable precision
except by the former. The Greeks and
Romans used sugar q a medIcamert al
most entirely, and II Is alluded 70 BY the
of the AugIstan age. Dur
ing the seventh century the empire of
the SaraCens was scarcely inferior %
that of Rome in the times OF her greatest
prosperity. They conquered western
Asia. overran northern Africa and car
RED their arms into the south OF EUROPE
To these s-Ini-barbaTIc Saracens, Europe
was indebted for the manufacture Of
sugar-a commodity the consumption Of
which NAV now almost Be taken As "A
of nations civilization There
are those who attribute the introduction
OF sugar 70 the Crusader. ont II has IN
doubtedlv been cultivated IN spain for
nearly go years. ri course the Cru /
saders did ind sugar N syria. and they /
NAV have assisted II making u better (
known on their return 70 Europe. n 7
the history Of the second crusade il l. 1
stated that Richard CHur de Lion |
seven camels laden with |
sugar. and that his knights /
found SWEET honied cannes call /
ed zucra-@ These they gathered /
and sucked. and were much pleased /
with the sweet taste thereof. wifh which /
they could scarcely - satisfied II was /
a long time before the mechanical arts 1
were applied 70 tine preparation Of sugar. /
and longer sin before any method Of 4
clarifying the Juice q the cane was DIS /
covered Sugar appeaTs 70 have been
very little known In England TIL the