Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1891-02-12

ing syrups called golden syrup and
..silver drips" is made from wood Five
pounds of poplar wood viii make four
pounds of this sugar, which is CONNER
ciaIy called '.glucOse. But the sui
phuric acid in il is deadly drug. Put
drop of the strong acid on the back of
your hand an it will eat the skin off
and make and ugly sore. Even the
weak acid used in making glucose must
iniure the coats of the stomach, which
are very delicate but not very sensitive;
and yet have felt severe stomach pains
from eating ''silYer drips." The sui
phuric acid can be very easily gotten
rid of by cheap and simple process,
but that would cost a cent or two gal
lon, and in the mad race for wealth in a
society where poverty is hell and wealth
| is power with all its allurments this cent
| or two gallon means wealth to the
/ great manufacturer, and the syrup will
sell just as we'll with the poison in as
/ with it out. In England the manufacture
/ of glucose is forbidden by law, just as the
manufacture of oleomargarine is forbid
| den in some of our states. on the ground
/ of unwholesom eness. But it seems to
/ me the wiser way in this country would
be to have this government of the peo-
pie and by the people, this public agen-
cy, control the manufacture of glucose
and have it furnished pure and at cost
to the people, 50 it would be to nohody's
interest TO poison the people, and a very
useful and cheap article could be fur
nished
said the sulphuric acid could be very
readily gotten out OF the glucose. but
there is no need to put it IN; there is
another substance quite harmless which
will have this catalytic action. although
the fact is not known TO the public. Did
YOU ever read of the queer way in which
some of the Pacific islanders make an
Intoxicating drink? They sit around in
a circle a chew a sort of grain and spit
the ''chankiugs'' into large vessel and
leave it to ferment. 1t makes alcohol.
How? The grain contains starch, each
molecule Of which is composed of three
molecules of celulose. The saliva con-
tains substance which by catalytic ac-
/ ton on the starch first transforms it
into sugar. and then, if its action is not
checked. into alcohol, ? molecules Of
which contain 4 atoms of carbon, y of
| hydrogen and of oxygen, which, you
see, is just the abstraction from grape
sugar of atoms of carbon and 1 atoms
of oxygen which escapes as carbonic
acid gas. What is this catalYtic agent?
Psychologists call it diastase. The exis-
tence of this agent in the body trans
forms much of the starch of our food
into sugar and would convert it all with
time enough or heat enough. DiasIase
can be produced even more abundanty
and cheaply than sulphuric acid. Every
grain of sprouting barley is full of it.
The bee gathers the juice of the flowers
and deposits it in the hive as honey. 1t
is mistake to suppose, as some have
done, that the honey exists in ordinary
flowers Just as 1t does in the honey
comb. There is honey in the honey
sucklo but the bee cannot get at it. The
juice of ordinary flowers is converted
into honey by the disatase in the bee 5
crop.
But glucose or grape sugar, however
useful, has only two ffths of the sweet
enipg power and half the solubility of
cane sugar. A molecule of cane sugar
is composed of II atoms of carbon, p
of hydrogen and II of oxygen. To con-
vert two molecules of cellulose into one
of cane sugar we must add II atoms of
| hydrogen and of oxygen, which is 6
molecules of water plus 3 atoms of oxY-
gen. The manufacturer does not yet
know how TO do this. Does anybody
think Sc. Maple sugar has exactly
the composition of cane sugar except q
very small amount of hayor-a salt of
iron. think the maple tree makes its
sugar from the cellulose of its own
wood; therefore it must furnish a cat
alytic agent which can transform cellu-
! lose into cane sugar. What is this agent,
and why does it operate powerfully only
when the ground is thawing or very
soon after? Can this agent be produced
abundantly and cheaply by the chemist
| think SO but am not going to tell
| Just yet all think about it.
This groYernment sustains great
bureau of science which the public
knows very little about 1t Is called the
Geological Survey, though geological
! survevino il only n very small mart of