The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-26
SUGAR OUT OF SAWDUST
MANY KINDS AND SOURCES OF SUGAR
SELDOM HEARD OF.
Why Brown Sugar Seems Sweeter
than Other kinds-Many Chem
lists Experimenting.

the medieval 'alchemists" cheerfully i'm
agined that the baser metals could be
changed TO gold, there still remain problems
almost equally tempting to the imagination
and probably quite as hopeless of practical
solution. To turn sawdust into table sugar
is one Of these problems. In fact, sawdust
has already been turned into sugar, only
this sugar is not the ordinary table variety
that. could 1t only be produced economi-
cally and on a large scale from the noun
tains OF sawdust that yearly accumulate in
American lumber yards. would make the
fortune OF whoever invented the process.
As in the case of the Philosophers Stone
there are difficulties; and even at it's best
the process has only proved that grape
sugar-a variety such as is found in many
fruits and may be seen and tasted crystal
lied naturally on the surface Of dried
grapes-can be made from sawdust by a
process altogether too costly to have prac-
teal commercial value. To transform this
grape sugar into the vastly more profitable
table necessity now derived from cane and
beet is generally admitted to present insup-
cradle obstacles.
Despite the general pessimism OF the SUI
gar chemists. however, the grape sugar end
~ TIC PhOOAtil - COHSlQeFeQ one OF the
very interesting side investigations of the
sugar laboratories IL we include all
these lsboratories-the private workshops
OF individual investigators. the commercial
Laboratories of the big manufacturing
plants and such student laboratories as that
of the Massachusetts, Institute of Tech
nology where student research is often con-
Quoted along lines practically parallel with
those Of the big manufacturers themselveA
I'VE should probably find some hundreds Of
sugar chemists bordering the problem OF
making grape sugar into table sugar.
MANY KINDS OF SUGAR.
Norris grape sugar the only popularity un-
familiar variety of this very everyday SUBJ
stance that receives the attention of the
modern sugar expert. for sugar is almost as
widely distributed as a well known poet
once declared sermons TO be- But ordinary
sugar. ever since 1t was introduced into con-
tinental Europe by crusading knights who
thus returned sweetly if not always tri-
umphantly from their campaigns in the
East, has had the center of the table, the
other varieties are known chiefly to the
Chemists who have since discovered them
and the manufacturers who use them In
an almost countless number of modern in
dustrial processes. Naturally the members
OF the medical profession made that the first
scientific body to interest itself in studying
sugar. and some very curious ideas they
originally evolved concerning it.
Coarse sugar" said Dr.. Thomas Short,
who wrote his Discourse on Sugar." to-
gether with some plain and Useful Rules
Tor Gouty People" only 80 years ago, "af-
lords much Oil to the adipose Vessels; in
winch, with the adhesion OF its fine earthly
Parts to the Sides OF the Vessels makes
1t fitted for thin. meager. unhealthy, or
hecficaily disposed habits. But fine
sugar Is the Opposite TO very choleric Con-
s1tuuons; for, being too stimulating, ii in
creases the Motion OF the Fluids: it's Salts
wear the Insides OF the Vessels, and dry
the Body; For this reason should meager
persons take care how they make too free
with it,
Little did DIR. Thomas Short realize that
there would be found special kinds of sugar
especially adapted TO 'meager Persons, or
that the article, in one form or another.
Would be produced not only from sugar cane
but from beets. parsnips.~ corn. apples car
rots, chestnuts. dates. grapes, honey, maize,
melons. maple, palm. pine plums, potatoes,
rhododendrons- milk. and various other
sources-to say nothing of wood, sawdust
and old linen. OF all these sources Conn
paratively few can yet be utilized success
fully. and for commercial purposes ordinary
sugar Is made only from sugar cane and
peets; milk sugar from milk; grape sugar
and malt sugar from potatoes and grains,
chiefly corn; maple sugar, of course from
the maple; date sugar from the date palm:
and
imported from China until recently from
Palm oil.
NOT ALL TASTE SWEET
Ordinary sugar. as We all know. is used
primarily for sweetening The other sugars
are chiefly valuable for their food prop
critics as well as their varying power to
make life sweeter than it would be other
wise. MIX sugar, for example, is hardly
sweet at ALL while ordinary brown sugar
apparently tastes sweeter than any other
variety. Not long ago. indeed. there was a
little revolution In Germany and the Ger
man housewives even declared that the
German scientists knew very little about
sugar because. forsooth. did they not say
tnat white sugar was sweetest when any
body with tongue knew that brown sugar
was sweeter. Perfect idiots, these scien-
asts. NnereupOn the scientists proved
that the presence of impurities-say salt.
or quinine or any other bitter substance
made any sugar apparently sweeter than
before they were added. Hygienically con-
sidered, moreover. sugar stands in the same
relation TO most other food substances that
dollar bill stands to a bank check; IL is
ready currency. SO TO speak. and goes into
Immediate circulation. The needs of the
body Immediately absorb all of TX that they
require and anybody who has eaten too
much candy knows the cloved sensation
which is the stomach's way of saying that
II has all the sugar that it can use at pres
ent.
Malt sugar and grape sugar-the chem
lists call them maltese and dextrose -
are therefore the most vital items in the
making of health foods and in the produc-
ton OF malt liquors; and they can be used
economically because they develop natur-
ally In the series Of chemical operations
that help produce the different substances
In which they are used. They don't have
TO be made separately and put In with a
spoon. In common glucose, for example
a syrup extracted from corn and used very
largely in the manufacture of confectionery
jelliss and soda fountain syrups there /.
about 40 per cent. of maltese and the ex