CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 33 



as well as in the alkalies, the other is orange yellow, and soluble in hot 

 and cold water. He has found these coloring matters in the husks of every 

 species of the sorgho plant. 



},I. I^ier, another French chemist, in a paper recently presented to the 

 French Academy slates, that he is satisfied that the coloring matters dis- 

 covered by M. Sicard, are to be found in the stalks, as well as the husks, 

 and can be obtained after all the sugary liquid lias been expressed from 

 'cm. The red coloring matter which M. Itier gets from these sources he 



mcs purpurolciue, and the yellow coloring matter he names xautholeine. 



ON THE COMPOSITION OF WHEAT-FLOUR AND BREAD. 



The following is an abstract of a paper recently read before the London 

 Chemical Society, on the composition of wheat-flour and bread, by Messrs. 

 Lawes and Gilbert : 



The authors described the results of an extended course of experiments, 

 in which the wheat was traced throughout from the field to the bakery. 

 The crops under examination were grown each successive year from 1845 

 to 1854 inclusive. In 1846, whivh year yielded altogether the most fully 

 matured crops, the proportion of nitrogen was lowest, and in 1853, when 

 the crops were altogether poorest, the proportion of nitrogen was highest. 

 Tl:c characters of a highly matured crop arc, low proportion of water, 

 low proportion of ash, and low proportion of nitrogen. In reference to 

 the effect of manuring, it appeared that in crops manured with both ni- 

 trogenizcd and mineral matters, there was the best produce and the great- 

 est reduction in the proportion of nitrogen. The character of the ash of 

 wheat, though subject to considerable variations in poor crops, was found 

 in well-matured produce to have great fixity of composition. The character 

 of the ash, moreover, was very independent of the nature of the manure, 

 but it was observed that the proportion of lime increased with the high ma- 

 turation of the crop. In reference to the produces of the mill, the bran was 

 i'u:;nd to yield ten times as much ash, and one and a half times as much 



/ 



nitrogen as did the household flour. Notwithstanding the "higher per cen- 

 ta-e of nitrogen, and the lanrc actual amounts of the mineral constituents 



O O ' c5 



of the grain contained in the branny portions, the writers of the paper were 

 of opinion that such were the effects of the branny particles in increasing 

 the peristaltic movements of the bowels, and thus clearing the alimentary 

 canal more rapidly of its contents, that it was questionable whether in the 

 p-neraliiy of cases, more nutriment would not be lost to the system by the 

 admission into the food of the imperfectly divided branny particles, than 

 would be gained by the introduction into the body in connection with these 

 irritating or cathartic particles, of a larger amount of supposed nutritious 

 matters. 



The authors estimated the amount of water in bread at from thirty-six to 

 thirty -eight per cent., and considered- that 100 pounds of flour yielded on 

 the average 133 pounds of bread. Their experiments showed that the loss 

 of dry matter in fermentation is extremely small, certainly less than one 



