326 Transactions. 



quantities, while when the acidity is 1,050 parts per million 

 the fixation is relatively small. The fixation also decreases 

 as the alkalinity increases over 254 parts per million. 



For permission to publish these results I have to express 

 my thanks to the general manager of the Christchurch Meat 

 Company (Limited), in whose laboratory much of the work 

 in connection with this paper was carried out. 



Art. XXX. — The Transformation of Barley into Malt. 

 By Percy B. Phipson, F.C.S. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 1st November. 1905.] 



The practice of malting and brewing has been known from 

 very ancient times. Herodotus describes (Herodotus, Book II, 

 cap. 77) beer prepared from barley as the ordinary drink of 

 the Egyptians in his day (430 B.C.), and, in common with other 

 writers of antiquity, he ascribes the art of brewing to Isis, wife 

 of Osiris, better known as Rameses II (1960 B.C.). It is there- 

 fore a matter of surprise that, although the process of malting 

 has been carried on for close on four thousand years, so little 

 is really known about it except by persons connected with that 

 industry. 



In the present paper I intend giving a short description 

 of the barley-corn, an explanation of the chemical changes 

 that take place within the barley-corn during germination, 

 and an account of the method by which these changes are 

 brought about in practice. 



The first subject to receive attention is the structure of the 

 barley-corn. You will notice that the grain is spindle-shaped, 

 and about ' in. in length, one end being sharper than the other : 

 this whs the end that was attached to the ear of barley previous 

 to threshing. Again you will notice that the grain is enveloped 

 by a very strong skin or husk — palese— consisting of the inner 

 and outer palea. Beneath the palea 1 are two coats or skins, 

 the first known as the " pericarp," and the second, which is 

 really the true covering of the seed, is known as the " testa." 

 A narrow furrow runs down the more convex side of the grain; 

 tliis side is known as the '" ventral " side, while the other, which 

 is comparatively flat and smooth, is termed the "dorsal" 

 side. 



