Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/184

SUGARS 150 SUICIDE starch by the enzyme diastase. Malt is the grain of barley which has been caused to sprout by wetting it, in heaps, with water and then keeping in a warm moist atmosphere. This sprouting brings about the formation of the diastase. On drying the malt and stirring with water, the diastase acts upon the starch, converting it to maltose. Since the passing of the Prohibition Act, large quantities of malt syi'up have been placed on the market as a table syrup, a basis for soft drinks, for candy manufacture and other purposes. Lac- tose or Milk-sugar is an important con- stituent of the milk of all mammals, in which it occurs to the extent of about 4 per cent., although the precentage varies somewhat. It can be prepared from milk by treating with rennet, when the curd separates, leaving the sugar in solu- tion in the whey. On evaporation the crude lactose is obtained. The solution may be purified by filtration through charcoal, and the sugar obtained by crys- tallization. Lactose is far less sweet than cane sugar. The tri-saccharides are of academic interest only, the most important being raffinose. The action of dilute acids on sugars is of interest and importance. As al- ready stated, sucrose undergoes inver- sion when its solution is boiled with dilute acids, invert sugar, a mixture of dextrose and levulose, being produced. Similar changes take place in all the di- saccharides, under similar conditions, in every case one or more mono-sacchar- ides being formed. Milk sugar gives dextrose and galactose, maltose gives dextrose only. The process is one of splitting the sugar molecule in two with the addition of a molecule of water, thus: Ci=H..O„ + H.O = 2CcH,20«  The fermentation of cane sugar, mal- tose and lactose by yeast can only take place after inversion. This can be brought about either by dilute acids, as described above, or by an organism known as an enzyme. Ordinary yeast contains the enzyme which inverts cane sugar and maltose, and hence can fer- ment both these sugars. Dextrose, fruc- tose and invert sugar are fermentable by all yeasts. SUHL, a town of Prussia; province of Sachsen, at the base of the Domberg; 3.5 miles S. W. of Erfurt. It lies to the S. W. of the Thuringei'-wald, and is sheltered by the Ottilienstein, a cliff of porphyry. Its firearms have been famous for several centuries, and its steel and iron wares are of superior siuality. As its name indicates (Sorb- Wendish, "salt"), it was formerly a salt mining center. There are iron mines in the vicinity. A mineral spring rich in chloride of calcium was discovered here in 1878, and the authorities undertook to transform the town into a watering place. Pop. about 14,500. SUICIDE, the act of designedly de- sti'oying one's own life. To constitute suicide, in a legal sense, the person must be of the years of discretion and of a sound mind. The law of England treats suicide as a felony involving the for- feiture to the crown of all the personal property which the party has at the time he committed the act, including debts due to him; but it is not attended with forfeiture of freehold or corrup- tion of blood. The body of the self- murderer was required to be buried without Christian rites in the open high- way or cross roads, and a stake was thrust through it to mark the public de- testation. This law was repealed dur- ing the reign of George IV., and the only consequences now are forfeiture of goods and deprivation of Christian rites. The burial may take place in a churchyard, but between 9 and 12 p. m. Suicide was treated as venial by the Romans, and was esteemed a virtue in certain cases, by the Stoic and Epicu- rean Philosophers. Valerius Maximus, who wrote in the 1st century, states that a poisonous liquor was kept publicly at Massilia, and that it was given to such as presented themselves before the Senate and procured its approval of the reasons which prompted them to get rid of life. Suicide is often set down as furnishing positive evidence of insanity. The law of England treats suicide as a felony; and those who commit suicide are held to be sane and responsible, un- less there be clear evidence to the con- trary. Suicide, however, is a very frequent result of insanity, more especially in Christian countries, and the verdict gen- erally given by coronors' juries is that the person destroyed himself while in a state of unsound mind; not so much, however, from the fact of insanity be- ing thereby established, as that any other verdict would distress the surviv- ing relations and friends of the deceased. Suicidal mania or insanity may be de- fined as a perversion or reversal of the natural instinct of love of life, leading to its destruction. Suicides are more numerous in cities than in town and country life. The chief causes for sui- cide are vice and crime, madness, delir- ium, alcoholism, poverty, and moral suffering. In the United States insanity is the leading cause.