[We find the following information communicated to the
_Literary Gazette_, apparently by the parties connected with
the improvement.]
Considerable interest has been excited in the market by the
introduction of an improved native raw sugar, which portends very
great advantages to all who are engaged in this so long unprofitable
branch of colonial and commercial intercourse. It is pure raw sugar,
obtained direct from the cane-juice, without any secondary process
of decoloration or solution, and by which all necessity for any
subsequent process of refining is entirely obviated. It is obtained
in perfectly pure, transparent, granular crystals, being entirely free
from any portion of uncrystallisable sugar or colouring matter, and
is prepared by the improved process of effecting the last stages of
concentration in vacuum, and at a temperature insufficient to produce
any changes in its chemical composition; the mode of operation
first proposed by the late Hon. Ed. Charles Howard, and subsequently
introduced, with the most important advantages and complete success,
into the principal sugar-refineries of Great Britain.
By this improved and scientific process of manufacture, the
application of which to the purpose of preparing raw sugar from the
cane-juice has now first been proposed, the most singular advantages
are secured to the planter, in an increased quantity of sugar, the
product of his operation, and in saving from the immense quantity of
deteriorated material, uncrystallisable sugar and molasses, which
were products of the former mode of operation, from the intense and
long-continued degree of heat employed in the processes. The time
and labour of the operation are also greatly decreased; the apparatus
possesses the power to make double the quantity in the same space of
time as the old method, and this is ready for shipment in four days,
in lieu of three weaks, as heretofore. The sugar likewise readily
commands an advanced price in the market to the planter of ten or
twelve shillings per cwt.
This improved sugar readily ensures a preference for all purposes of
manufacture, solution, or domestic economy. It is a purer sweet, and
of a richer mellifluous taste than even the best refined; it is not
apt to become ascescent in solution; and, from its superior quality,
it well answers all purposes of the table. In the manufacture of rum
from the molasses, which are separated during the first process of the
operation, there is no danger of deterioration in the production of
empyreuma, and a far purer spirit is obtained than that made from
ordinary molasses.
This improved process is now in complete and successful operation on
eight estates in Demerara. The general introduction of the process
is considered by the best practical judges to ensure certain means of
revivifying the spoiled fortunes of the planters, and to open a new
era in the prosperity of those portions of the British crown, of which
this forms the principal staple commodity of support.
[According to Dr. Moseley, the art of refining sugar, and what is
called loaf sugar, is a modern European invention, the discovery of a
Venetian, about the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth
century. Sugar candy is of much earlier date, for in Marin's _Storia
del Commercio de Veneziani_, there is an account of a shipment made at
Venice for England in 1319, of 100,000 lbs. of sugar, and 10,000
lbs. of sugar candy. Refined, or loaf sugar is mentioned in a roll of
provisions in the reign of Henry VIII.
The process of refining sugar _in vacuo_ is the most useful
application of "the fact that liquids are driven off, or made to boil
at lower degrees of heat when the atmospheric pressure is lessened or
removed."[3] The first part of the process is to dissolve impure sugar
in water, and after clarifying the solution, to boil off or evaporate
the water again, that the dry crystallized mass may remain. Formerly
this evaporation was performed under the atmospheric pressure, and
a heat of 218° or 220° was required to make the syrup boil; by which
degree of heat, however, a portion of the sugar was discoloured and
spoiled, and the whole produce was deteriorated. The valuable thought
occurred to Mr. Howard, that the water might be dissipated by boiling
the syrup in a vacuum or place from which air was _excluded_, and
therefore at a low temperature. This was done accordingly; and the
saving of sugar and the improvement of quality were such as to make
the patent right, which secured the emoluments of the process to
him and other parties, worth many thousand pounds a-year. The syrup,
during this process, is not more heated than it would be in a vessel
merely exposed to a summer sun.
[3] Arnott's Elements of Physics.
Lord Brougham, in his Introduction to the _Library of Useful
Knowledge_, characterizes this as a process, by which more money has
been made in a shorter time, and with less risk and trouble, than was
ever perhaps gained from an invention; and as "the fruit of a long
course of experiments, in the progress of which known philosophical
principles were constantly applied, and one or two new principles
ascertained."[4]
[4] Objects, Advantages, and Pleasures of Science. In the
first edition, the inventer is erroneously stated to be Edward
Howard.
The scene of this discovery was, in all probability, the Deepdene,
near Dorking, the retreat of the late Mr. Thomas Hope, the author
of _Anastasius_. Here the Hon. Mr. Howard, brother of the Duke of
Norfolk, resided at the commencement of the last century, and is
stated to have enjoyed that philosophical retirement which may be
described as the happy haven of a truly great mind. He planted a
portion of the grounds, the greater part of the estate being so
admirably disposed by nature as almost to forbid the fashioning of
men's hands. At Mr. Howard's death, the estate descended to the Duke
of Norfolk, who sold the property, in 1791, to the late Sir William
Burrell, whose lady wrote the following lines, which are on a tablet
in the grounds:
"This votive Tablet is inscribed to the memory of the
Honourable Charles Howard, who built an oratory and laboratory
on this spot: he died at the Deepdene, 1714.
If worth, if learning, should with fame be crown'd,
If to superior talents, fame be due,
Let _Howard's_ virtues consecrate the ground
Where once the fairest flowers of science grew.
Within this calm retreat, th' illustrious sage
Was wont his grateful orisons to pay,
Here he perused the legendary page,
Here gave to chemistry the feeling day.
Cold to ambition, far from courts remov'd,
Though qualified to fill the statesman's part,
He studied nature in the paths he lov'd,
Peace in his thoughts, and virtue in his heart.
Soft may the breeze sigh through the ivy boughs
That shade this humble record of his worth;
Here may the robin undisturbed repose,
And fragrant flowers adorn the hallow'd earth.