Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-01-29
WHAT is SACCHARIN?
{ hrmicaI Name Is OrthOsul pho benzO ic
Acid Imide

The sugar shortage which has lasted
SO much longer than most folks expect
ed. and which has driven them to use
rock candy. brown sugar and sugar syrups
is now stirring interest in substitutes
which are not sugar at all.
Sugar has been so scarce in France
that saccharin has been served universally
at all of the public eating places for the
past two years or so. In the smaller
cafes. instead Of a sugar bowl there stands
ON the table bottle full of saccharin So
luton, IA bottle like those in which ta-
basco sauce is kept, from which the liquid
may be shaken in small quantities at a
time.
"A guest at one of the larger Partisan
hotels. if he takes his breakfast coffee
in his room, will not be served with su-
gar but will find in his coifee-spoon two
or three small white pellets each one of
which is equal in sweetness to a lump of
ciystalized sugar. These pellets are a
| compressed mixture of finely powdered
saccharin with finely powdered sugar OF
milk. The sugar Of milk makes the sac
charm dissolve more readily.
Saccharin has been used for many years
| by diabetes and by others who could not
! take sugar 1t has the sweetness of SUI
! gar. but not its nutritive value.
! Saccharin was discovered in 1879 by
Remsen and Fahlberg. The younger man.
working under the direction Of Prof. Ira
| Remsen, the chemist who later became
president of John Hopkins University,
was carrying out the chemical researches
which gained him the degree of doctor of
philosophy. The researches were entire.
| " theoretical and nom practice in Their
puport. They involved the preparation
| a. hpN IF
! the chemist very naturally soled his
hands with his substances and, by chance,
! got small quantity of one OF them in
| to his mouth He was surprised to find
| that It was exceedingly sweet, and tried
| it on his friends TO convince himself that
! ir was not deceived
| Ii tasted sweet to every one, and has
! continued 10 do so to such an extent that
this substance, saccharin, first prepared in
small quantities in order that it's chem
| zeal properties might be studied. is now
manufactured by the ton.
! SaCcharn is "A white powder consisting
of microscopic crystals. Weight for
weight. it is about 500 times as sweet as
! cane sugar. But it is. not very soluble in
cold water, one part of saccharin requjr-
ing about 400 parts of water for solution.
II Is feeble acid and dlSsolvcs readily
, IN alkaline solution of soda. In this con-
dtion 1t is about 100 times as sweet as
an equal weight Of cane sugar. The sweet
taste Of saccharin is noticeable il IL is
dissolved IN 7O0oo times it's weight Of wa
ter
II any one asks, What is saccharin'
II is interesting to know the correct an
swer, saccharin is acknowledgements acid
imide.
On commercial scale, saccharin is made
from tolvene, which is one OF the ingre-
dents of coal-tar and of gas-tar-the same
substance as the raw material for the
manufacture of the famous TINT.
The fact that it is made from coal
tar by chemical process is nothing In
Its disfavor. So are many other sub
stances that occur in foods. Some coal-
tar products are poisonous and are Tor
hidden. Some are not poisonous.
Many coal-tar products naturally oc'
cur IN plants and animals anyway. we
make them from coal-tar instead OF from
more attractive natural sources,