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•r the varieties of culture. It is when ripe of a bright and goldenellow ; and where obvious to the sun, is in many parts veryeautifully streaked with red: the top is of a darkish green ; butthe more dry it becomes, from either an excess of ripeness or acontinuance of drought, of a russet yellow, with long and narrowleaves depending; from the centre of which shoots up an arrowlike a silver-wand from two to six feet in height; and from thesummits ef which grows out a plume of white feathers, which aredelicately fringed with a lilac-dye; and indeed is, in its appear-ance, not much unlike the tuft that adorns this particular and ele-gant tree.” When the plants have arrived at their full growth,which, in the West Indies , is in the couise of twelve or fourteenmonths, they are cut down and bruised by means of machinery.Fig. 1, Plate CLXII. represents a mill for squeezing the juicefrom the sugar-canes. ABDE is a strong frame of wood, thelower part D of which is a large block: the upper surface of thisis cut out into a bason, to collect and receive the juice of thecanes; which is expressed by the three rollers FGH, whose lowerpivots work in sockets in the block D, and the upper sockets arefixed in the beam E. The sockets of the middle-roller are fixedfirmly in the beams D and E. The sockets of the other two areheld between two wedges ub, put in in contrary directions, thesmall end of one wedge being on the same side with the large endof the other. By this means the rollers can always be set nearertogether, or farther from each other. When it is wanted to setthe outside-rollers nearer the middle-roller, drive out that wedgewhich is neaiest the middle-roller, and drive the other in ; and thecontrary when they are wanted farther apart. The rollers areusually of cast iron, and each has a cog-wheel, as I, on its upperend, which causes them all to turn together, the power of the firstmover being applied to the middle-one by a shaft K. When themachine is at work, a man stands on each side of it. The one inthe front takes the canes, and puts them in between the rollersFG, which, as they turn, draw the canes through, and expresstheir juice. The man behind them directs the ends of the canesback between the rollers GII, which are somewhat nearer toge-ther than the others ; and as they come through, a third man car-ries them away. The juice runs down the rollers into the reser-voir, and is conveyed by the trough L to the boiling-house. Itmust be observed, that the reservoir in the top of the block Dmust be only cut in channels round the outside of the rollers ;being left the full height near the centres, to prevent the liquorrunning down, and getting out between the wedges ah. VVhen asugar-mill is worked by .wind, the shaft K is connected with thevertical shaft of the mill. If by horses, the levers they work fromare fixed to the shaft K ; and either the horse-walk is raised aboveground higher than the trough L, or the juice is conveyed by apipe laid under the walk. Sugar-mills that are worked by a wa-ter-wheel, or steam-engine, have a bevelled wheel fixed upon theshaft K, and another upon the wheel or engine, which turns it.Mr. Cruickshank obtained, by the distillation of 480 grains of pure

sugar, by means of a red heat,

grs.

Acetic acid and oil.270

Charcoal.120

Carbonated hydrogen, and icarbonic acid gases.j

480

Sugar, therefore, is composed of oxygen, carbon, and hydro-gen. The proportions of its constituent parts, according to Lavoi-sier , are the following:

Oxygen.....04

Carbon.2S

Hydrogen.,. 8

100

Sugar is also obtained from the juice of the maple-tree in NorthAmerica . It has lately been proposed to extract sugar from theToot of the beet; and the attempt has been made, even in thelarge way, by Achard of Berlin. The process which he followedis to boil the roots, cut them into slices, and extract the juice by

pressure. Many other plants also contain sugar, either in theroots, the sap, or tin: seeds. It exists in wheat, barley, beans,peas, and other leguminous seeds, especially when they are young,in considerable quantity.

SugarcandY, is the essential part of the saccharine matterformed into large crystals, by slowly evaporating the clarified sy-rup. The whole process is managed in strongly-heated chambers,by the aid of vessels containing numerous threads that intersecteach other ; and which are fastened to the sides, in various direc-tions. The sugar, thus treated, shoots into crystals around thethreads; and, according to its relative purity, the latter acquirea brown, yellow, or white colour. Siigarcandy is chiefly used ina pounded state, for sweetening coffee, and by persons labouringunder hoarseness and coughs ; the violence of which it contributesto relieve, by lubricating the membranes, aud promoting expecto-ration.

SUGULMESSA, or S1G1LMESSA, a province of Africa, inBiledulgerid; bounded on the N. by Mount Atlas ; E. by theRetel; S. by the kingdom of Tablet , and W. by Dara. It is 100miles long. It abounds in corn, dates, and various fruits: andlias mines of iron, lead, and antimony. The government is repub*lican.

Sugulmf.ssa, the capital of the above province, is 72 miles E*of Tablet. Lon. 5.5. W. Lat. 29. 40. N-.

SUICIDE, self-murder, is one of those crimes which arcnot common among savage nations. The first instances of it re-corded in the Jewish history are those of Saul and Ahithophel ;for the deatli of Samson is not a proper example. It never be-came common among the Jews till their wars with the Romans,when multitudes slaughtered themselves that they might not fellalive into the hands or their enemies. But at this period the Jew 5were a most desperate and abandoned race of men, had corruptedthe religion of tlieir fathers, and rejected that pure system whichtheir promised Messiah came to Jerusalem to announce. Weknow not when it became remarkable among the Greeks ; but dwas forbidden by Pythagoras, by Socrates and Aristotle , and b)'the Theban and Athenian laws. The religious principles of thebramins of India led them to admire suiciae on particular occa-sions as honourable. Accustomed to abstinence, mortilicatio"'and the contempt of death, they considered it as a mark of weak-ness of mind to submit to the infirmities of old age. The modernGentoos, who still in most tilings conform to the customs of theirancestors, when old and infirm, are frequently brought to tl' ebanks of rivers, particularly to those of the Gahgqs, that they ina)'die in its sacred streams, which they believe can wasli away th eguilt of their sins. JBut the maxims of the bramins, which "ha ^encouraged this practice, we are assured by Mr. Ilohvell, are pjcorruption of the doctrines of the Shastah, which positively torbi®suicide. Suicide is frequently the result of a defective education'laying the foundation of vicious habits; such as gaming, and d> 5 'sipation followed by disappointed ambition, or the desire of avoid'ing public disgrace. Hence, various punishments have been d c 'vised in different countries, to be inflicted on the bodies of tho= ewho thus outrageously terminate iheir existence. With a view i0deter unprincipled individuals from the commission of suicide,British legislature lias enacted, that all the personal property of ‘felo de sc shall be confiscated to the crown, while the body is n°only excluded from interment in consecrated ground, but a‘ _directed by the coroner’s warrant to be buried in a public big 1 ’way ; being pierced with an iron-stake, to add to the ignomh’PAlthough the utmost rigour of the law is, in later times, seld 1 ’^,exerted on those occasions ; yet we humbly conceive, that 1^present lenity is not compatible with the frequency of the 0fence ; nor does it appear on critical investigation, that a P° sl J' c tmons corporal punishment is likely to produce the desired el’®on profligate characters. Hence, we are of opinion, that pre'’® (tive measures are, in this respect, the only means left to the P 0 '*,of tlie state ; because, after the crime is committed, neither c 0 ((|fiscation of property (which seems to involve open injustice ^the distressed relations of the deceased,) nor public exposu ri; ( |the body, are calculated to give the least reparation to the inj 111 j,community. On the contrary, such spectacles of execution 5 Vter deatli, cannot fail to make a very unfavourable impressiontlie attending populace ; to steel tlieir hearts against refined in gfeelings; and to render them in a manner indifferent respef 1 ^

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