Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 279, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 November 1920 — GERMAN GRIP ON RARE SUGAR GONE [ARTICLE]

GERMAN GRIP ON RARE SUGAR GONE

America Now Producing Costly Sweets Used in the Detection of Disease Germs. RESULT OF WIR NECESSITY Prompt Work of Chemists of Groat Assistance in Fighting Typhoid in A. E. F.—Elaborate Care Necessary. New York —Germany’s grip on the rare sugar Industry has been broken at last by several American manufacturers who are now able to produce those costly sweets used In the detection of disease germs. The most expensive of these, quoted, at several hundred dollars a pound. Is far beyond the reach of the average housewife, and yet it plays an important part in scientific research and must be obtained. At the outbreak of the European war the group of rare sugars used In our laboratories was manufactured In Germany. The Teutons had such a hold on the processes that they were able at any time to destroy competition. One ot these sugars is of exceptional value in the detection of typhoid, as the organisms- of that disease are so fond of it that they naturally select It and so multiply upon it that their presence can readily be detected. The military hospitals of the United States called upon members of the American Chemical Society to cooperate in the making of rare bacteriological sugars for typhoid work, and, according to a bulletin Issued by that society these efforts soon proved successful. The fact that the health of the American expeditionary force in France was so good was largely due to the quest for typhoid germs which was made possible by the preparation of these unusual saccharine substances In laboratories of the United States. The investigations which developed from the employment of these agents did much to forestall outbreaks of typhoid fever and to Indicate the need of special vigilance In vaccination against that dread disease, which in the Spanish American war caused more deaths than did the bullets of the enemy. Guldea in Selecting Germs. Other rare sugars are used as guides in the detection of cholera germs and are therefore Invaluable weapons against the pestilence which walks in darkness. Bacteriological or rare sugars require the utmost care in handling, for the presence ot any impurities or of

another kind of sngar renders them unfit for the precise purposes for which they are Intended. It requires the utmost patience and scientific skill to put them through the various steps of purification. Often through some slight slip or mishap days of work may be lost, and it Is necessary to go back and repeat the processes In order to obtain the required standard. This elaborate care is responsible for the seemingly enormous prices at which the rare sugars are listed. High as these costs may appear they are said to yield only nominal profits to the manufacturers. The most expensive rare x sugar quoted in the catalogue Is dulcitol, for which $375 a pound is asked. ' Mannose is worth $l4O a pound. The ivory nut better known as “vegetable ivory,” Is Imported in large quantities from Ecuador, and is used for the manufacture of buttons for coats and gowns. The chemist makes mannose from the scraps of the button factories, but the high cost of the resulting product Is due to the many accurate processes through which he must put It in order to obtain absolute purity. Sugar From Manna. Another ■ sugar is mannite, derived from manna, that nutritive gum with which the Bible tells us the children of Israel were miraculously fed during

their wanderings in the Wilderness. Manna is secreted from a tree and forms in thin scales, which at certain times and under unusual weather conditions may be blown high into the air by the wind and then deposited upon the., ground. The Biblical narrative recounts that the Hebrews found the bread from heaven lying upon the earth in the early hours of the morn. As manna has a delicate and delicious taste which resembles that of a sweet wafer, it is not so good when long exposed to the air—as Is also told in Hedy Writ. Xylose, held at $l2O a pound, is made from the lowly corn cob. Inulin is derived from the bulbs ot the dahlia, but can he obtained at only certain seasons of the year. Other rare sugars are: Arfbinoee, for which SIOO a pound Is asked; levulose, an SBO a pound product; and raffinose, for which the manufacturing chemist receives $75 a pound. Only small quantities of these sugars are employed at a time tn the laboratory, so they are usually sold in 25' gramme bottles, or by the ounce. An ounce ot some of them would last even a busy bacteriologist a year. American chemists feel that tn placing these aids to medicine at the disposition of research a distinct step has been made on the road to chemical independence.