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saccharimeter

An instrument for ascertain the quantity of saccharine matter in any solution, as the juice of a plant, or brewers' and distillers' worts.

Alternative forms: saccharometer.

The common saccharimeter of the brewer is an hydrometer adapted by its scale to point out the proportion of saccharine matter in a solution of any specific gravity. The polarizing saccharimeter of the chemist is a complex optical apparatus, in which polarized light is transmitted through the saccharine solution, and the proportion of sugar indicated by the relative deviation of the plane of polarization.

Origin: L. Saccharon sugar: cf. F. Saccharimetre.