GERMINATION. 319 
(40°|,) suffer by germination such chemical change that the 
oil rapidly diminishes in quantity (nine-tenths disappears,) 
while at the same time starch, and, in some cases, sugar, ts 
formed. (Vs. St., III, p. 1.) 
Solution of Starch.—The starch that is thus organized 
from the fat of the oily seeds, or that which exists ready- 
formed in the farinaceous (floury) seeds, undergoes further 
changes, which have been previously alluded to (p. 78), 
whereby it is converted into substances that are soluble 
in water, viz., dextrin and grape or cane sugar. 
Solution of Albuminoids.—Finally, the insoluble al- 
buminoids are gradually transformed into soluble modifi- 
cations. 
Chemistry of Malt.—The preparation and properties 
of malt may serve to give an insight into the nature of 
the chemical metamorphoses that have just been indicated. 
The preparation is in this wise. Barley or wheat 
(sometimes rye) is soaked in water until the kernels are 
soft to the fingers; then it is drained and thrown up in 
heaps. The masses of soaked grain shortly dry, become 
heated, and in a few days the embryos send forth their 
radicles. The heaps are shoveled over, and spread out so 
as to avoid too great a rise of temperature, and when the 
sprouts are about half an inch in length, the germination 
is checked by drying. The dry mass, after removing the 
sprouts (radicles,) is malt, such as is used in the manufac- 
ture of beer. 
Malt thus consists of starchy seeds whose germination 
has been checked while in its early stages. The only prod- 
uct of the beginning growth—the sprouts—being remov 
ed, it exhibits in the residual seed the first results of the 
process of solution. 
The following figures, derived from the researches of 
Stein, in Dresden, ( Wilda’s Centralblatt, 1860, 2, pp. 8- 
23,) exhibit the composition of 100 parts of Barley, and 
