_Washington, June, 1819._ [_Am. Farm._
_Conversion of Rags into Sugar._--We find this is no joke. There is
in the _Annales de Chemie_ a long and very circumstantial account,
from the pen of M. Henry Braconnot, of Geneva, of the whole process
of this singular discovery; and are now so well satisfied there is
nothing of "pleasantry" in the matter, as at first sight appeared
to many, that, should we be told to-morrow that, as linen may
be converted into its constituent principle, sugar--(a piece of
fine Irish linen into a loaf of double refined!)--so may wool be
converted into its constituent principle, fat--(an old threadbare
coat into a basin of fine gravy soup!)--we shall be prepared to look
quite grave at the announcement.
"The conversion of wood into sugar (says M. Braconnot) will, no
doubt, appear remarkable; and when persons not familiar with
chemical speculations are told that a pound weight of rags can be
converted into _more_ than a pound of sugar, they may regard the
statement as a piece of pleasantry, though nothing can be more real."
The agent in making this wonderful conversion is sulphuric acid,
and those to whom it may not be enough to know that the thing can
be done, will find ample directions as to the _modus operandi_ in
M. Braconnot's Memoir. We shall content ourselves here with one
extract:
"I made these 359.2 gr. of sugary matter (obtained from old cloth
well dried) into the consistency of sirup; at the end of twenty-four
hours it began to crystallize; and some days after, the whole was
solidified into a single mass of crystallized sugar, which was
pressed strongly between several folds of old cloth; crystallized
a second time, this sugar was passably pure; but, treated with
_animal_ charcoal, it became of a shining whiteness.--The crystals
were in spherical groupes, which appear to be formed by the union
of small diverging and unequal plates. They are fusible at the
temperature of boiling water. This sugar, of a fresh and agreeable
flavour, produced in the mouth a slight sensation of coolness. It
dissolves in hot alcohol, and crystallizes by cooling. Dissolved
in water, and mixed with a little yeast, it fermented; the vinous
liquor which resulted, furnished alcohol by distillation. Burned
with potash, and its charcoal washed with diluted nitric acid, it
yielded a fluid not troubled by nitrate or barytes. It would be
useless to insist farther on the properties of this sugar: it is
evident that it is perfectly identical with the sugar of grapes or
of starch."