580 GRAMTNEM. 



History, Uses, &C. — A wild form of this cereal is said 

 to be still found in some of tlie West Indian Islands. The 

 vernacular names point to its introduction into India from 

 Mecca, hut the Durah-i-Makka or Gandum-i-Makka of 

 Mahometan writers on Materia Medica, which they also call 

 Khanderiis [xo^hpos)^ is the Sorghum migare or Great millet, 

 the Jiiar of I^orthern India, and the Sholam of Madras. The 



Mays 



We 



from Chinese literature that it was cultivated in China in 

 the ]6th century, and was then traditionally asserted to 

 have heen an introduction from the west. On the Continent 

 of Europe, it is hest known as Turkish corn. It is now 

 cultivated in all warm countries, and is considered by 

 Mahometan physicians to have properties similar to those of 

 Sorghum nilgare, viz.^ resolvent, astringent, and very nourishing ; 

 they consider it to be a suitable diet in consumption and a 

 relaxed condition of the bowels. In Europe it is much used 

 as a valuable article of diet for invalids and children under the 

 names of I'oUnta (Maize meal) and Maizena (Maize flour). 

 In Greece the silky stigmata are used in decoction in diseases 

 of the bladder, and have lately attracted attention in America 

 under the name of Corn silk, of which a liquid extract is sold 

 in^ the shops as a remedy in irritable conditions of the bladder 

 with turbid and irritating urine; it has a marked diuretic 

 action. I'he meal has been long in use in America as a poultice, 

 and gruel is also made of it. In the Concan an alkaline 

 solution is prepared from the burnt cobs and is 

 lithiasis. 



given 



from maize it 



has been found desirable to get rid of the oily embryo-this is 

 done by machinery. The embryo is too rich for feeding stock 



unless the oil is removed 



—.... „„v. V.XX la lemovea— tnis IS done in the hydraulic press, 

 and the cake when ground into meal is very valuable as a food 

 for stock. The oil promises to be useful for medicinal pur- 

 poses mstead of oHve oil. In the unrefined state it has a 

 specific gravity of -916 at 15°C., the elaidin test shows the 

 presence of a large quantity of olein. 



Maize 



