SACCULUS, in Anatomy, a diminutive of saccus, signifies a little bag, and is applied to many parts of the body.

SACCHARUM, Sugar, or the Sugar-Cane, a genus of plants belonging to the triandria class; and in the natural method ranking under the 4th order, Gramineae. See Botany Index.

This plant is a native of Africa, the East Indies, and of Brazil; from whence it was introduced into our West India islands soon after they were settled. The sugar-cane is the glory and the pride of those islands. It amply rewards the industrious planter, enriches the British merchant, gives bread to thousands of manufactory manufacturers and seamen, and brings an immense revenue to the crown. For the process of making sugar, see Saccharum.

SUGAR.

Sugar, formerly a luxury, is now become one of the necessaries of life. In crop-time every negro on the plantations, and every animal, even the dogs, grow fat. This sufficiently points out the nourishing and healthy qualities of sugar. It has been alleged, that the eating of sugar spoils the colour of, and corrupts, the teeth; this, however, proves to be a mistake, for no people on the earth have finer teeth than the negroes in Jamaica. Dr Alston, formerly professor of botany and materia medica at Edinburgh, endeavoured to obviate this vulgar opinion: he had a fine set of teeth, which he ascribed solely to his eating great quantities of sugar. Externally too it is often useful: mixed with the pulp of roasted oranges, and applied to putrid or ill-disposed ulcers, it proves a powerful corrector.