Syrupus. U.S., Br. Syrup [Sirup, Simple Syrup]
Syrupus Simplex; Syrupus Sacchari s. Albus; Sirop de Sucre, Fr. Cod.; Sirop simple, Fr.; Sirupus simplex, P. G.; Weisser Sirup, G.; Sciroppo semplice. It.; Jarabe simple, Sp.
"Sugar, in dry crystalline granules, eight hundred and fifty grammes [or 29 ounces av., 430 grains]; Distilled Water, a sufficient quantity, to make one thousand mils [or 33 fluid-ounces, 6 ½ fluidrachms]. Place at the bottom of a glass percolator of suitable size, a layer of purified cotton about one-half inch in thickness, well fitted to the sides of the percolator, and moisten it with a little distilled water. Introduce the sugar into the percolator, make its surface level without shaking or jarring, then carefully pour upon it four hundred and fifty mils [or 15 fluidounces, 104 minims] of distilled water and regulate the flow of the liquid, if necessary, so that it passes out in rapid drops. Return the first portion of the percolate until it runs through clear and, when all of the liquid has passed, follow it by distilled water, added in portions, so that all of the sugar may be dissolved and the product measure one thousand mils [or 33 fluidounces, 6½ fluidrachms]. Mix thoroughly. Syrup may also be prepared in the following manner: Dissolve the sugar with the aid of heat in four hundred and fifty mils [or 15 fluidounces, 104 minims] of distilled water, raise the temperature to the boiling point, strain the liquid, and pass enough distilled water through the strainer to make the product, when cold, measure one thousand mils [or 33 fluid-ounces, 6 ½ fluidrachms]. Mix thoroughly. Syrup thus prepared has a specific gravity of about 1.313 at 25° C. (77° F.)." U. S.
"Refined Sugar, 1000 grammes; Distilled Water, sufficient to produce 1500 grammes. Heat together until dissolved; add sufficient Distilled Water to produce the required weight. Specific gravity 1.330. Optical rotation + 56° to + 58°." Br.
This syrup, when properly prepared, is inodorous, of a sweet taste without peculiar flavor, thick, viscid, nearly colorless, and perfectly transparent. It sometimes requires straining through muslin or it may be filtered through a pledget of cotton or often through paper.
From the observations of Maumene, it appears that a solution of pure cane sugar, when long kept, undergoes a molecular change analogous to that produced by the reaction of weak acids, the saccharine liquid becoming brown when boiled with potassium hydroxide. But, as this phenomenon is exhibited alike by uncrystallizable sugar and by glucose, the experiment does not determine which of those forms of saccharine matter has been produced. (C. R. A. S., xxxix, 914.) Procter observed a similar change in simple syrup which had been kept in his cabinet for six years. (A. J. P., xxvii, 430.) Schaeuffele, having noticed, on one occasion, in the preparation of simple syrup, that the foam exhibited a singular blue color, while a part of the cane sugar was rapidly transformed into the uncrystallizable variety, made investigations as to the cause, and was led to the conclusion that it was the presence of indigo in the loaves of sugar, introduced with the view of giving brilliancy and whiteness, but this conclusion was erroneous, as it is well known that ultramarine, and not indigo, was formerly used for this purpose. The presence of a blue coloring matter in sugar was frequently noticed in this country; syrup made from such sugar was not colorless, and in a short time deposited a dark-colored sediment. Colorless "rock candy" forms' an excellent source for pure syrup (the broken crystals can be procured cheaply from the manufacturers), and syrup entirely free from impurities is required in making such preparations as syrup of hydriodic acid, syrup of ferrous iodide, etc. Joseph L. Mayer (J. A. P. A., 1916, p. 712) shows that it is unfair to assume that commercial glucose is present as an adulterant of syrup, simply because it contains reducing sugar, for in a series of experiments conducted by him, working with both cold process and hot process syrups, the amount of invert sugar found after standing for one year, ranged from about 8 per cent. to over 40 per cent., depending entirely on the length of time of standing. The grade of granulated sugar known as "crystal A" or as "Druggists' Dry Granular," is used with success in some parts of the country where it can be readily obtained. It is crystallized from the first runnings from the bone-black filters.
Syrup is very useful in the formation of pills and mixtures, and in various other pharmaceutical operations in which sugar in solution is required.
The U. S. syrup is practically identical with that formerly official, being a trifle stronger, the sp. gr. being given as 1.313 at 25° C. (77° F.). That of the Br. syrup is 1.330 at 15.5° C. (60° F.), probably adapted to the climate of Great Britain, which is not so cold in winter as is ours, at least in the Northern and Middle States.
