grains, remain in solution in a pan, (say
200 gallons of liquor,) those 1,000 grains of lime will require 761 of
carbonic acid to convert them into carbonate of lime or chalk, 100
grains of which consist of 56.2 lime and 43.8 carbonic acid. So that
1,761 grains of chalk consist of 1,000 lime and 761 carbonic acid. Now
100 grains of carbonic add consist of 27.53 carbon and 72.47 oxygen;
therefore 761 grains will consist of 209.50 carbon and 551.53 oxygen.

Consequently, 1,000 grains of lime will require 209.50 grains of
carbon to convert them into carbonate of lime; and as we have seen
that the abstraction of 24 from 100 grains of sugar convert them into
gum, it follows, that the abstraction of 209.50 grains would have a
similar effect on 87,000 grains, or about 15 lbs. of sugar, which,
being converted into gum, would prevent the crystallisation of several
times its weight of sugar; and this is the cause of the formation of
molasses. The loss of sugar is not the only bad consequence of the use
of lime, as the greater the quantity of gum in the liquor, the more it
must be boiled--the more it is boiled the darker it gets--and the
higher the temperature at which the skip is struck, the smaller the
grain. The following is a good proof that lime dissolves albumen, and
becomes converted into chalk:--Take a spoonful of syrup out of the
tache of any estate on which the liquor is tempered cold; it will be
found filled with small flakes; these are albumen set free from its
solution in the lime by the conversion of the latter into carbonate of
lime, and coagulated by heat. It is perfectly possible to temper
liquor, so that scarcely any uncrystallisable sugar will remain; but
planters do not like this; they must have molasses for the
still-house; they could, however, boil low, by which the grain and
color would be improved, and plenty of uncrystallised, although not
uncrystallisable, syrup would be left to take the place of molasses.

I think I have now fully proved the following facts, viz.:--That the
use of lime in sugar-making is not to neutralise an acid; that if
acidity be present, the application of lime is injurious; that its
action on gluten, albumen, wax, resin, and chlorophyle is equally so;
that by decomposing the sugar and forming gum, the quantity of
molasses or uncrystallisable sugar is much increased, whereby high
boiling is rendered necessary, with its consequent heightening of
color and injury to the grain of the p