446 Dr. R. D. Thomson [June 



In these results we observe considerable differences, 

 which are to be attributed to th€L mode in which the ana- 

 lyses were conducted. 



Einhof determined the weight of the starch and gluten 

 together, when they had been deposited from water in 

 which the meal contained in a linen bag had been kneaded. 



The water from which the starch was separated was fil- 

 tered and boiled; coagulated albumen subsided, and by 

 evaporation an extract was afforded which was treated with 

 alcohol. It gave gluten and sugar. These substances were 

 separated by mixing the alcoholic solution with water and 

 distilling the alcohol. The gluten fell down, and the sugar 

 remained dissolved in the fluid. The alcohol left undis- 

 solved some gum and phosphate of lime. The former was 

 taken up by water and left the latter in a pure state. The 

 matter in the linen bag consisted of vegetable fibre, mixed 

 with a little gluten and starch. The hordein of Proust was 

 obtained equally well by means of hot or cold water, which 

 dissolved the starch and left the hordein in an insulated 

 state. Raspail considers this substance to be the pericarp 

 of the seed or what we term bran. The propriety of this 

 opinion is strengthened by the circumstance that there is 

 very little of it existing in pearl barley. The substances 

 reckoned by the French chemists as constituents of starch, 

 viz. amidone, diatase, amidine and dextrine 9 there is strong 

 reason to consider as products of the analytical operations.* 



It is a remarkable circumstance, in reference to the starch 

 which forms such a principal constituent of the seed of barley, 

 that it is possessed of a most durable nature when preserved 

 in dry magazines. This fact is illustrated in a very striking 

 point of view by some researches of the French chemists. f 

 In 1817 a depot of barley was discovered in the citadel of 

 Metz, which had remained closed up from the year 1523, 

 and notwithstanding that it had remained in this state for 

 294 years, it afforded excellent bread when converted into 

 meal. A similar magazine was also recently detected in 

 some villages destroyed by the Turks in 1526, where the 

 corn appeared to have lost none of its qualities proper for 

 forming an essential article of food. 



These, though remarkable instances of the capacity which 

 the starch of barley possesses of withstanding decomposition, 



* Records of General Science, i. 196. 

 t Journ^de Chiui. medicale, i. 63, 2nd. ser. 



