J. HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 363 



cial to bread-making, the gluten of the flour having in part 

 become changed into a soluble body. Thus, while sound 

 flour preserved in sacks contained 11.06 per cent, of gluten 

 and 1.44 per cent, of soluble albuminous matter, four other 

 specimens of flour taken from different barrels were severally 

 composed of 8.37 per cent, gluten to 2.14 per cent, soluble 

 albumen; 7.40 per cent, to 6.90 per cent.; 7.23 per cent, to 

 4.44 per cent.; and 6.54 per cent, to 6.46 per cent. Two 

 samples with more than 6 per cent, of soluble matter had an 

 acid reaction, while the others were neutral. Professor Po- 

 leck believes this chemical change of the flour to be induced 

 by the fact that the barrel prevents communication with the 

 atmospheric air and the equalization of temperature. This 

 view is confirmed by the oft-repeated observation that flour 

 in sacks keeps fresh for a much longer time, and that the 

 mustiness in barrels always develops first, and exists in the 

 highest degree in the centre, viz., that portion most remote 

 from the outer air. 19 C, xx., 193. 



BREAD. 



A German scientific journal contains the results of an elab- 

 orate series of experiments on the effects of feeding dogs and 

 man on bread alone, and on bread mingled with meat and 

 other articles of diet. These experiments, it is stated, prove 

 that a bread diet alone is very expensive, as a large quantity 

 must be given to supply the daily waste of the fleshy tissues. 

 On the other hand, the addition of a small quantity of meat 

 reduces the cost of support and keeps up the strength of the 

 body. Insufficient food, it is demonstrated, causes the tissues 

 of the body to become more watery, and renders the entire 

 organism less capable of resisting injurious influences. In 

 the experiments on man, the attempt was made to ascertain 

 which of the several kinds of bread in ordinary use was ab- 

 sorbed in the greatest amount in its passage through the ali- 

 mentary canal. It was found that white wheat bread was 

 absorbed in the greatest amount, then leavened rye bread, 

 then rye bread raised by chemical processes, and, lastly, the 

 "pumpernickel," or German black bread. The great" nutri- 

 tious value attributed to bran is denied by the experimenter. 

 12 A, 1871, April 20,497. 



