THE ETHICS OF FOOD 289 



more or a little less water in flour may have a marked effect in 

 facilitating or restricting enzymic action. 



Commercially, water is added to flour in the form of a very 

 fine spray, usually during the milling process, though the 

 addition may be made also to the finished flour. Some wheats 

 are in no way improved ; in the case of others there is a very 

 decided and definite improvement in the baking qualities of the 

 flour. In the light of our knowledge of the factors influencing 

 strength, this improvement is logically interpreted as indicating 

 a change in the mineral constituents of the flour. That this is 

 what actually happens will be shown immediately. 



According to the report, spraying adds 1 or 2 per cent- 

 of water to the flour and to this extent is a gain to the miller. 



At the recent meeting of the British Association, Mr. A. E. 

 Humphries described experiments showing the effect of spray- 

 ing on the Southern Plate wheat of the 1910-1911 crop. The 

 improvement produced in the loaf by such treatment is very 

 striking, as will be obvious, without further explanation, on 

 reference to figs. 1 and 2, for which we are indebted to Mr. 

 Humphries ; a full account of his observations is to be found in 

 Milling of Sept. 9, 191 1 . 



The practice of adding phosphates to flour is justified by 

 Wood's analyses showing that the ash of strong wheats is richer 

 in phosphates than that of weak wheats. There is no doubt 

 that such additions cause marked improvement in the baking 

 qualities of the flour and in the nature of the loaf made from it. 

 Flours which already contain sufficient phosphate naturally are 

 not improved by the treatment. Mr. Humphries has contrasted 

 the behaviour of the 1909 and 1910 crops of No. 2 Northern 

 Manitoba wheats in this respect— the former was much benefited 

 by the addition of a little malt extract and ammonium phosphate, 

 the latter showed no change after treatment. No more striking 

 illustration of the effect produced by different climatic conditions 

 could be desired. 



The addition of phosphates to flour is made on the assump- 

 tion that phosphorus is present naturally in the form of an 

 inorganic phosphate. Dr. Hamill contends that this is true only 

 of the ash of flour and that a large proportion of the phosphorus 

 is present in organic combination and therefore possesses a 

 special dietetic value. Our knowledge of this question urgently 

 needs extension, particularly with reference to the question 



19 



