222 Review of Letter to the Landholders of Stirlingshire. May 



recede from each other ; the conftltuent principles are left to enter into 

 new combinations ; and fuch as had been only incompletely formed by 

 the intevpofitlon of other particles, are enabled to feparate from thefe, 

 and perfect the combination. The whole fubftarce of the grain is by 

 this means converted into a mealy powder, from which the fugar is eafi- 

 ly difengaged by felution in water. 



* The procefs of mahingy is an artificial vegetation. The barky is 

 •fteeped in the conch, that it may imbibe a fufficiency of moillure, and 

 is then laid in a heap on a floor, where the temperature is high enough 

 to encourage vegetat'on. This procef*^ is allowed to proceed till the 

 aquafpire or young fhoot is juft ready to protrude beyond tlie haflc : 

 "whatever exceeds or falls Ihort of this point, (for reafons to be afterwards 

 explained,) occafions a lofs of value on the malt. But, befides the ori- 

 ginal faccharine fubilance in the grain, it would appear that additional 

 fugar is formed in malting. The conftituent parts «f fugar are, oxigen, 

 hydrogen, and carbon. The two firft will be fupplied by the water in 

 the malt-bath ; the lart by the coak or cinder;?, which are ufed as fuel 

 in the kiln. Yet this augmentation in the malting, which is very confi- 

 derable, both in bulk and weight, will depend very much on the quality 

 of the grain. A large full pickle, with a thin hufli, and ilronger vege- 

 tative organs, will decom.pofe a greater quantity of water, and form a 

 greater addition to iis original fugar, than one inferior in all thefe qua- 

 lities : of courfe, if the Scotch barley is inferior to the Englilh, it will 

 be proportionally lefs augmented by thefe operations. 



* It fcems to be a common opinion, that, becaufe the faccharine fub- 

 ilance of barley is not perceptible to tlie talle, it is entirely formed by 

 the procefs of malting ; and that the conftituent parts only arc to be 

 found in the grain, which, during the vegetation or malting, are allowed 

 to combine. Were this the cafe, tlie climate could not fo much affe6t 

 us. But the truth lies on the other fide. There are no fubftances more 

 common in nature than oxygen, hydrogen, carbon. Were there no 

 peculiar organization neceilary for adjulting the proportions of thefe 

 elements, and affiiling their combination, or were we able, on the con- 

 trary, to procure fugar wherever we could bring them together, that ar- 

 ticle would be abundant in every quarter. But every one knows that 

 this is far from being the cafe. The fadl is, that, inftead of being alto- 

 gether produced by the malting, the additional faccharine fiiblUnce 

 thtrcby obtained, fcarcely compenfates the lofs of fpirit evaporated dur- 

 ing the drying, and part of the rootlets which are rubbed off in the 

 turning. This is completely proved by the practice of diftiiling from 

 unmalted barley, from which I have been told two more gallons of fpi- 

 rits can be extracted per boll, than from the fame kind of grain tho- 

 roughly malted. It appears, therefore, that the chief objeCl; of malting 

 13 to ameliorate the faccharine juices, by freeing them from thofe oleagi- 

 nous and foreign fubftances which give a difagrceable flavour to the li- 

 quor. And it follows, of courfe, that it is to the grain we are to look 

 for the CQmparative quantities of fugar and fpirit. ' ^' T-l-^'f 



The 



