188 On ~S'ugar from the Seekel Pear.

tallizing sugar,) and obtained a strop of a pleasant taste, and of the colour of line molasses.

The two succeeding years I obtained nearly the same results, hut the strop, as in the other case, would not crystallize ; I lmve stone at present, which still remains in tt~e same state.

But in 18~9, tile season being t'avourahle for fruit, I i3rocnred some very tint, the juice of which, (it was a grayish colour with a light tinge of orange, which last colour deepens in a very sho,'t time,) I heated nearly to the boilin~ point, neutralized an'~.t separated the feculent portion by treating~t "with an excess c~f lime, which, when precipitated, left a clear aqueous strop of ~, light straw coiour, of the specific gravity of nearly 1075. 1 then neutralized the excess of lime remaitling in the sirop, concentrated and t:larilied it with ivory black, and reduced it Until its boiling point marked ~??-1/' Fah. l i a r - ing been prevented from attending to it fi)r a few days, when I pro- ceeded to ternfinate the concentration, I perceived that it had become so glutinous and ropy, I feared it would burn in the operation; I therelo,'e put it into white glass bottles. ~ It was cleat', at~d of a fine yellow colour.

Eighteeu months after this, some line white crystals had formed~ resembling those from sugar cam:; (rock candy.)

I,ast summer i treated some.juice in the same manner, but owing~ I believe, to the unsoundness of the fruit, (tim season being unfavonra- hie,) the sirop was dark, and acquired a taste from the ivor,y b[ack~ which wasofinf;erior quality, lthen exposed thes i rop in evaporat- ing pans, in a hot atmosphere; it thickened, but has not yet crystal- lized, whilst the glutinous sirop of 18~9, crystallized ahnost entirely~ although the crystals were darker than those formed while cold.

Business calling me from the city, I submit to .yof the experi- ments, that you may continue them if w~u think proper, and take the liberty of calling your attention to a [ruit which, though of a delight- ful flavour, is sca['celv known beyond the vicinity of this city. I es- timate its value for sugar, from the knowledge that its .juice cart be as easily and cheaply obtained as that of the apple, anti that it c o n - ta ins neat" two pounds liquid sugar pet" gallon, whilst its agreeable flavour and sweetness leave little :'doubt of the quality and strength of the perry or vinegar that could be obtained from it.

That these feeble instructions may lead to the creation of a new branch of industry, is the sincere wish of

Your obedient servant, ASIA1~LE J. ]~I',AStER.

The committee to whom was submitted the sugar and sirops pre- pared by Mr. Brasier, anti presented by him to the College, beg leave to report:

That so far as they have been able to ascertain, the sugar obtained by Mr. Brasier fi'om Seekel pears, possesses all the properties of the crystallized cane sugar, anti in no respect does it seem to dilt;er f)omt it. Its taste, crystallization, solubility in water, &e. are exact ly the same. Three samples have been submitted to the ~eollege; ttt e

On Nugar fi,om the Seekel Pear. 189

one very white, and in regular crystals; another, a little inferior~ and the third sample, in a granular state, ofa g~'ayish colour, Dossessinz the appearance and smell of dry Brazil suzar of an inferiol" • finality ~

Mr. Brasier left lbr the cotun;ittee, two b~ottles of siro ,node f~ o'~n" the Secket pear; one containing the sirop made in 18"29, and which afforded the samples he produced; the othcr was tile strop he made |ast year. The principal object of the committee was tile investiga- tion of these two strops, with the view of del)rivino~ them of th ' ,~l, tin0us properUes, as this was probably the only cause oI'the digiculty in file one case~ and the impossibility in the ether of obtaininz crvs. tallized sugar. Your committee having at their disl)osal but a sm~alI quantity of these strops to experiment with, had little hope of successi but they have not been deterred trota undertaking the task, though their experiments may have proved few and unsatista.etory. They expect to be abie next year to institute a series of new experiments upon the fresh juice ol'~the Seckei pear, and to submit to the college a mote ample anti satisfactory report than this. Mr. Brazier's dis- covery involves, undoubtedly, a ve,'y impo,'tant question--wl~ether the northern climates are not as capable of i)roducing sugar as the tropical. We hope that your committee will receive the assistance of persons interested ill the promotion of science, manufactures, and national wealth, and that scientific and enterprising men~ led towards the same object, will communicate to us the result of their own la- bout's.

The first strop made in 18~9 is perfectly transparent, of a light straw coluur, and holding in suspension a considerable number of small i)rismatic crystalsj its consistence is viscous and ropv, and its sp. gr. 1,365; heated in a sand bath it became more fluid~ but still retained its ropinessi the crystals which tloated in it when cohl, fell down when heated; owing to its viscidity, it mixes with diflicnlty in cold, but dissolvc.s readily in warm water. In contact with stdphu- tic acid, it acquires a dee l) brown col(mr, without emissio,.~ of sul- phurous.acid: nitric acid decomposes it with production of nitrous vapours anti formation of oxalic acid: murlatic acid did not seem to have any action Ul)On it. Sub-acetate of lead and alcohol rendered it turbid, and precipitated a ttocculent matter.

Six drachms of warm strop were mixed with three ounces of alco- hol~ (distilled from grain,) of 35 ° of Baume~s areometer; the mixture became turbid, and a white precipitate offlocculent matter subsided gradually; this precipitate was removed by filtration, and carefully washed with tepid alcoiao|. Tile alcoholic liquors were united and slowly evaporated at a heat of about 160. ° When reduced to the crystallizable pellet the strop had lost all its ropiness: carried to dry- ness it produced five drachms of very white sugar, impregnated with the smell of whiskey, and slightly contaminated witil a little uncrys- taliizable strop. After washing this sugar with alcohol, it was redis- solved in distilled water, and ttae sirnp, reduced to the crystallizable point, was entirely deprived of its former ropiness, and deposited, on cooling, a number of small crystals of pure sugar; what remained oa the filter was tbund next morning to be a hard substance, much

190 On ,S'ugar f rom the Seckel Pear.

reduced, in. siz% and weighin~ four grains, only. This substance, ex, ammed with tile glass, presented the tollowmg characters-- i t was of a red brown colour, shining and hornlike on the side exposed to the contact of the air; on the other side it appeared spongy, porous, and of a lighter colour: its sp. gr. was great. Ti~rown into boiling water, it did not dissolve, but became white, and considerably larger; it continued, however, to sink in water. This substance had many of the characters of gluten, but submitted to the actinn of tile fire it did not evolve an ammoniacal odour ; it burnt with a black smoke, and emitted an odour similar to lignia, leaving fro" residuum a piece of charcoal about one-lburth ils fcwmer bulk; al~other piece withdrawa from the boiling water, and submitted to a gentle heat, gradual ly re- sumed its tormer bulk, hardness, anti colour, lodi~mhad no action upon this substarace, but hydrochloric acid dissolved it completely.

The brown strop of 1830, was treated in the following m a n n e r - - two ounces were dissolved in one ounce of boiling distil led water~ and then mixed with six ounces of alcohol of .55 °. l ' h e mixture be- came turbid, and a copious twecipitate fell down; this precipi tate separated from the alcohol, did not adhere to tlie fingers, and could be malaxated like wa,'m molasses candy. This precipitate dissolved easily ill boilin., water, but sweetened it v'ery litt le. A portion of it vermitted to dry in the air, acquired a deep brown colour, shin- ing at the surface, and spongy it~side, o1 a sweetish taste, somewhat like the ttesh of a dry raisin. 'i'hrow,l upon an ignited coal, it swelled up, took tire, and burnt with the smoke and smell of a woody sub- stance, but without emitting either an ammoniacal or burnt sugar smell.

The same filtered solution was then treated with sub-acetate of lead, which threw down a very copious precipitate ; the l iquid be. came considerably lighter in colour, anti after being filtered, a stream of hydro-sulphuric acid was passed through it to precipitate the lead; it was filtered again, after ascertaining that it was entirely free from lead. The liquor now reddened litmus paper, but the ac id i ty was soon removed by boiling. I t was then evaporated to the consistence of a thick, transparent strop, of the colour of light Madeira wine, which was set aside to crystallize, but did not~ after remaining seve- ral days.

I t may be inferred from the above experiments, that the difficulty experienced by Mr. Brasier in crystallizing his strop of Seckel pear, was owing, principally, to a peculiar mucous substance which he did not separate sufficiently by the.process he followed in his operation, and which rendered his strop wscous and ropy. The sirop made in 18.~0, evidently contained a much greater portion of this mucilage than the other~ and was, besides, as we learn, submitted to a very protracted action of beat, which is known to deprive solutions of sugar of ttle property of crystallizing. W e have hardly any doubt that a better process than that resorted to by Mr. Brasier may be ap- plied to the manufacture of sugar from the Seckel pear, and we are disposed to think that the employment of the sub-acetic of lead, in- stead of lime, for precipitating the vegetable, mucous, and eolouring

On Sugar from the Seckel Pear. I91

principle, will obtain the desired object. This means has already been proposed for the purification of cane and beet sugar, burns the salts of lead combine with sugar, and are separated t'rom it with dilfi; culty, it was abandoned. Itowever, it is asserted in the Dictionnaire des Drogues, that some manufacturers have succeeded in this desi- deratum, and that this method will, before long, produce a great re- volution in tile art of sugar refining.

Now the question is, whether tile manufacture of sugar from the Seckel pear may become an object of industry and of advantage to the country. The solution of this important question is yet beyond our reach ; our data, in reference to this point, are altogether insuf- ficient, as we have no means of establishing a comparison between the quantity of sugar that two similar portions of land might altbrd, if cultivated~ one with sugar cane, anti tile other With Seckel pear trees, not" between tile relative rusts of cultivation and manipulation. Howe,er, if we compare the , d ness of the juices or s sugar canos, beet roots, and Seckel pears, we shall tlnd that the I t possesses a great superiority over the others. According to Mr. Oilhner~ (Dictionuaire des Drogues,) Mr. Achard, a distinguished chemist, and a manufacturer of beet sugar, obtains four, to four and a half per cent. or' sugar f,'o,n the juice of red beets. Edwards, in his his- tory of the West Indies, relates that the average quantity of sugar obtained fi'om the juice of the cane, is about ten per cent.; now Mr. Brasier tells us that one gallon, or eight pounds ot Seek,.e! pear juice, yields two pounds of liquid sugar,* that is, ~4 ounces ot ury sugar, or 18.75 per cent., about twice as much as tile juice of the cane. Thus if the assertion of Mr. B. be correcb which we confidently believe, a Secke pear tree,producing four bushels of pears of 60 lbs. to the bushel, would yield three-fourths their weight of juice, or 180 lbs., which would produce 34 lbs. of dry sugar ; and one acre of ground, planted with 100 Seckel peat- trees~ each p,'oduciug four bushels of fruit, will yield 3400 lbs. of dry sugar,¢ without p,-eventing the soil from afford- ing other agricultu,'al products.

The genus Pyrus, (pear t,'ee,) belongs to the class Icosandria, or- der Pentagynia of the artilicial system of Linnaeus, and to tile family Rosasem of the natural order. It was divided by Linnmus in three divisions; the Pyrus proper, P. mains and P. Cffdonia. Persoon has separated the latter from the genus Pyrus, and formed a new genus under the name of Cydonia. From five species of Pyrus described by Persoon, tl~e P. communis is theonly one bearing fruit~ whirl b by cultivation, is susceptible of becoming eatable.

In the natural state, the oear tree acquires considerable dimen- sions, and its branches are frequently terminated by Iong~ straight,

* One pound sugar, made up in slropj gives one pint of the latter, weighing one paund five ounces avoirdupois.

t Each face of a square acre, containing 4840 square yards~ is 69.6 yards long'. 01' 208 feet. By leaving fourteen feet fi.ee fi'om the edge of each of the faces of the square aere~ to t[ae first row of trees, and planting the trees at twenty feet dlstanee fi'om each other~ it is found that one square acre will contain ten rows often trees each.

192 On Sugar f r o m the 5'eckel Pear.

and hard, pr ickles; its fruit is acerb, hard, and its flesh granular. This single species has, by cultivation, produced a great number of varieties, which are propagated by grafting, and distinguished by difference in shape, size, and colour, and especially by tile taste if tile fruit. Tournefort arranged these dilti~rent varieties into three different classes; the Summer, tile Autumnal, and tile Winter pears. The pear which is tile subject of this report belongs to the second class. I t is knowu bv the name of Spicy, Musk, or Russet pear, and is called by the French llow, selet de lgheims.

The Seekel pear derives its name from a gentleman of this eilv, wh. , it se~mls, , a s lh<. liv::~. ~xho paid part icular at tention 1. tim fruit, and to s I r , l ( ,~; tim tree among his [fiends an(I the public, tlow. ever, l h . I). II~)s<t(!k, in an account of tile Seckcl pear~ ~llicl~ was published in the third vl,lunm of tile Transac t ions of l]le Ilo,'ticultu. val Society hi I ,midmb asserts, on tile authori ty of a respectable fi'iend, that sevcntv-lwo years ago, this peat' was grown in Ihe neigh- bourhood of this ci'ly, by a person of the nanm of Jacob Weiss, who had oblain¢:d the tree at a set i!ement of Swedes which was early esta- blished iu tb.e ~i<iuilv of Philadelphia~ and that most probably Mr. IVeiss, anfl l!ic! fat}lel, ~u' xvandfather, of M,'. Seckel were intimale, as hfllh [ltui]ieP,; v<(,rt! (;(erluans, and of that rank ill society which might I)e lik,~!v {o i~:~td Io s~uch ale acquaintance. ' f i le conjecture thereIbrc is~th~t under ~uch circumstances, Mr. SeckePs l'amily ob- tained the graft.-; l,utu Y[r. ~.'~ciss~s t ree ; however this may be, Mr. Scckel deserve,~ lhe credi t of having propagated this delightful fruit, and havill;~ paid lhe :.g~<ttcst attention to the cultivatim~ and melio- ralion of the lree.

That the Seeke! pear tree is a native v a r i e t y o f the neighbourhood of Philadelphia is incol:testable, from the c i rcumstance that it is Mrdly knmvn out of tlm vicinity of this city, and because it has never been described by European t-orticulturists, except from the descriptions of out" own authors, and as having been procured from this vicinity. There are ah'eady several sub-varieties, sl ightly dilt'ering in size, eohmr, and taste.

It is thus described by Mr. Cox. in his work on tile fruit trees, published in this city in 1817. "The fi'uit is genera l ly small, round at tile blossom elld, diminishing with a gentle swell towards the stem, which is i'~ther short and th ick ; the skin is sometimes yellow, with a bright cheek, and sm~mth; at other times it is a perfect russet without any blush; tile ,qesh is melting, ju icy , and most exquisi te ly and deli- calely fiavoured. The tina~ of r ipening is from the end of August to the middle of October. The tree is s ingular ly vigorous andbeauti- ful, of great regular i ty of growth, rich in foliage, and y e r y hardy, possessing all tire characterist ics of a new variety, and, as a native tree, it ]s but l i t l le alL.cled by that species of blight, commonly call- ed tire bli~z;ht, which, in this country, destroys so many pear trees of the imported variet ies ." Agoo,-I representation of this fruit, copied from a drawing executed b), MF. Cox~s daughter, has been appended t,~ the account given by li t . i lossack, and published in the Transac- tions of the I ,ondon t:[orficuItural Society.

On the Preservation of Lives f rom 8/dIJwreek. 198

The Seckel pear may be cultivated, and will flourish, on almost any species of soil ; it should always be grafted or inoculated on tile wild pear tree, as grafting on the quince tree subjects it to tile saine diseases with which this tree is generallyaffected in this country. I t should be ibur or five years ohl when planted in the orchard, and each tree at a distance of from eighteen to,twenty-live feet. Many horticulturalists w'hom we have consulted, p,'efcr the smallest dis- lance, or twenty feet at most, as by this method the trees protect each other from the wind, frost, sunbeams, &c.

It bears fruit at from five to six years old; at~that age the product is trifling, but from eight to twelve years it increases considerably ; when fifteen years old°they a,'e in full bearing, inc,.easing, however, until they are twenty-five. Their average product, f,'om fifteen to twenty-five or thirty years old, is variously.reported, anti there is generally one good anti one bad year. The mmtmum product seems to be, on an average, fbur bushels of fi'uit.

It acquires considerable size, and lives forty, fifty, and as long as sixty years. The general experience is, that it is very little sub- ject to the diseases afflicting other trees, more easy to cultivate, and bearing generally more fruit than any other.

Your committee have thus given as succinct an account as pracli- cable to do iustice to the subject, although they have extended their report far beyond the limits they had originally prescribed; yet they would do injustice to l~ir. Brasier, aswell as their own feelings, if in concluding tile report, they omitted to say, that they consider him entitled to great praise for the talents, perseverance, and ingenuity he has evinced in the prosecution of the experiments, the results of which they have been examining, as well as t}iose which have ena- bled him to saccharify, directly, rye, and -other kinds of grain, tile sweet and common potato, and other vegetable substances contain- ing fecula, by means of the combined action of heat and water, acidu- lated by sulphuric acid, aml afterwards to convert the liquid sugar thus obtained into alcohol,and cannot but believe that the ultimate results of them wilt prove highly important to the country.

E. Dt,~A~D, J o s . S c A'I'I'F, RG OO D.

[Jour. Phila. College of" Pharmacy.

To the Editor of the Repertory of Patent Inventions. S ~ , - - I f tile communication~ which I send herewith, comprising

-Observations on the preservation of lives from Shipwreck," &c. so far meet your approbation, and be so far consistent with the plan of your work as to obtain a place in its valuable pages, I shall probably trouble you again with a few thoughts on other subjects, and am,

Sir, Your obedient servant,

Bristol, September 6. E. I t . VoL. I X . - - N o . 3.~MARclf, 185~2. ~5