ST Y
SUG
( 344 )
times, in thin pieces, femi-tranfparent: it is mo-derately hard, brittle, and eafily frangible. Sp.gr. 3.67 Klapr. 3.4—3.64 K'rnv.
Before the blowpipe it becomes white, andcalcines, but does not melt. When ftronglyheated in a clay crucible it runs into a denfe,hard, clear, yellowilh green glafs, with a lofs of30 per cent. When intenfely heated in a char-coal crucible, it becomes of a grey colour, andlofes 31 per cent, of its original weight, butdoes not melt. In diluted nitric or muriaticacids it diffoives readily with a copious effer-vefeenee.
It has been analyfed by Hope, Klaproth , andPelletier, with the following reiults:
Hope.
Klapr.
Pellet.
61.21
— 69.5
— 62 Strontian
3°.2
— 3°-
— 30 Carbonic acid
8.59
— 0.3
—■ 8 VVaser
IOO
IOO
IOO
It has hitherto been found only at StrontianIn Argylelhire, in a vein palling through gneifs,and accompanied by galena, heavy fpar, calca-reous fpar, and iron pyrites.
STYRMX. See the articles Resin andBenzoic Acid .
SUBLIMATE CORROSIVE. See Mer-cury, Mur 'uit of.
SUBLIMATION . Sublimirett, Germ.
Sublimation is in the dry way what diftilla-■tion is in the moiit. Thus if a fmall quantityof fal ammoniac is put into a flalk, and heat isapplied at the bottom, the entire fait rifes in theform of white fmoke, and condenles in the up-per part of the flask in the form of minutecryftalline particles, which is a fubUmate.
Sublimation is conveniently performed inthe fmall way in common flasks, efpecially theFlorence oil flasks, which being of green glafs,bear a low red heat very well.
In the large way, as in the making of cam-phor or fai ammoniac, it is alfo performed invery large glafs globes or earthen cucurbits, orfometimes, though rarely, in a feries of earthenvefl'els called Aludels, for which fee the Ap-pendix .
SUCCINIC ACID. See Amber.
parent and colourlefs when eryftallized, but'when granular, of a pure giofl'y white, folublein water and alcohol, without fmell, and withthe tafte of fimple fweetnefs without any otherflavour whatever. It melts by heat into aclear yellowilh tenacious liquid, and when'kindled burns with a ftrong flame, and a verypungent acid vapour. With the nitric acid itis convertible chiefly into the oxalic acid. Itis a molt powerful antileptic, and is one of themoll grateful, and (when in mixture] one ofthe moft nutritive of all the alimentary fub-ftances derived from the vegetable kingdom.
Sugar is never found pure and very rarely ina Hate approaching to purity, for it is alwaysintimately combined with mucilage and othervegetable principles, to which it largely impartsits peculiar tafte.
Sugar is very extenfively diffufed over thev e getable kingdom: in general it is elaboratedby the growth of the plants that yield it, beingchiefly found when the vegetable has arrived atthe Hate of maturity.
The great fources of fugar are, the commonjuice or fap of plants, as in the fugar-cane, andmaple fap, — the ripe fruit, as in the grape,date, fig, in all of which it exfudes and efflo-refees on the furface when kept dry —andthe root (though in much fmaller quantity] asin the beet and parfnip. It is alfo elaboratedduring the firft germination of moft grains,particularly barley, as is feen in the procefs ofmalting.
Sugar is fcarcely if at all contained in anypart of the animal kingdom (honey belongingcertainly to the vegetable] except in milk, andin the urine during that lingular difeafe, thediabetes mellitus.
As almoft all the fugar ufed by man is ob-tained from the fugar-cane, we lhall firft de-feribe the whole procefs of obtaining it fromthis moft excellent vegetable, and alfo from afew other fources though of trifling importancecompared with the firft.
The fugar cane 1 (Saccharum Arundlnnceum)is a jointed reed terminating in fharply lerratedleaves. The body of the cane is ftrong, brittle,and when ripe of a fine ftraw-colour, and itcontains a foft pithy fubftance which affords alarge quantity of that fweet lufeious agreeablejuiee from which the fugar is manufactured.The average height of the mature cane variesfrom 3! to 7 feet, or fometimes much higher,and in rich lands it puts forth a profufion offuckers from which the plant is propagated.
SUGAR. Sucre , Fr. Zucker , Germ.
Sugar if pure is a fubftance perfectly tranf-
■ Edwards’s Hiftory of the Weft Indies