182 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



water, gluten, starch, glucose, dextrine, &c. Gluten is an adhesive, 

 pasty mass, and c6nsists of several different principles, though what 

 these are has not yet been satisfactorily determined. Professor Beck 

 analyzed specimens from different mills, and gives the result. The 

 amount of gluten varies, in these specimens, from 7.00 to 14.25 in 

 100 parts. The following analysis of wheat flour, from Port Byron, 

 N. Y., will show the relative proportion of the various principles in 

 flour : 



Water 13.60 



Gluten 12.00 



Starch 67.60 



Glucose, dextrine, &c 6.80 



100.00 



Professor B. analyzed some flour from Kubanka wheat, imported from 

 Odessa, and found it to contain 15.25 per cent, of gluten, which exceeds 

 the amount in any specimen of United States flour. 



Professor Beck, in the course of his report, also mentions many other 

 interesting facts, which he has either observed himself, or collected from 

 various sources. To show the advantage of drying the wheat properly, 

 he states that in Poland, where the ventilation and drying are continued 

 for some time, wheat has been preserved sound and good for half a cen- 

 tury ; its age never does it injury, and such wheat yields handsomer and 

 better flour than that obtained from the grain more recently harvested. 

 In Dantzic the preparation for keeping wheat continues for a year, and 

 even longer, after which it is often kept for seven years in the large 

 granaries of that place, perfectly sound. 



One of the best methods of determining the real value of wheat 

 and other flours is to examine the bread made from them. The pro- 

 cess of making brings out all their defects, and thus affords a good 

 standard of comparison of the various kinds. But it should be re- 

 membered that bread is often adulterated for the very purpose of ena- 

 bling the manufacturer to use poorer kinds of flour. Thus in Belgium 

 and France blue vitriol is often introduced into the dough, so that not 

 only poorer flour can be employed, but less labor is required, and a 

 larger quantity of water is absorbed. Alum also answers the same 

 purpose. The alkaline carbonates, the carbonate of magnesia, chalk, 

 pipe-clay, and plaster of Paris, have all been used, either to correct 

 the acidity of damaged flour, to preserve the moisture, or to increase 

 the weight and whiteness of the bread. All these substances, except, 

 perhaps, the alkaline carbonates in small quantities, render the bread 

 unwholesome. Potato starch, buckwheat, rice, &c., are often mixed with 

 wheat flour. 



Professor Beck recommends Mr. J. R. Stafford's process for drying 

 grain, by which " the grain or flour is brought into contact with a sur- 

 face of metal heated by steam, and a due degree of ventilation, so im- 

 portant to the completion of the drying, is secured. As the heat is not 

 raised above that of boiling water, there is no danger of injuring the 

 quality, color, or flavor of the substances subjected to its action. The 





