17S On the Changes produced in the new Wheat. 



No. 6. Loaf with eight grains pure potash ; — Not so good as No. 5. 



7. Loaf witli eight grains pure soda ; — Inferior to No. 6. 



8. Loaf with twenty grains carbonate soda; — Just as bad as 

 No. I ; quite viscous, adhering to the teeth. 



9. Loaf with forty grains ditto; — Better than No. 8, but in- 



ferior to No. 2. 



10. Loaf with ten grains pearlash ; — Improved, but not mate- 

 rially. 



1 1. Loaf twenty grains ditto ; — Tolerably good, scarcely in- 



ferior to No. 2. 



12. Loaf with little pure ammonia; — Scarcely improved, 

 clammy, and bad tasted. 



13. Loaf vvitli twenty grains of subcarbonate of magnesia; — 

 Very niiicli improved ; better than any of the preceding, 

 light and porous, good tasted, and not in the least clammy. 



14. Loaf fifteen grains ditto; — Scarcely inferior to No. 13. 



When the new flour is well dried, and the subcarbonate mag- 

 nesia mixed with it in the quantity of thirty grains to a pound 

 of flour ; good bread may be made from such flour with the 

 addition of l-Sth or l-6th of boiled parsnips, or of baked or 

 boiled potatoes. Baked potatoes seem to answer better than 

 boiled ones ; thev are drier, and more mealy. 

 • Bread made from the new flour of indifferent or bad quality 

 has a disagreeable smell and taste, is disposed to be heavy and 

 clammy, and has its colour impaired. The disagreeable smell 

 and taste of the bread seem to be connected with the presence 

 of an excess of saccharine matter in the flour, and the subse- 

 iquent changes it undergoes in the process of baking. The ap- 

 plication of the alkaline bodies is explained on the idea that the 

 bread has a tendency to acidity, which is counteracted by their 

 presence ; or they neutralize any acid formed, and thus materially 

 improve the bread. 



From a comparative trial 1 made, it would appear that the 

 new flour contains a larger proportion of gluten, but less farina, 

 than the old flour. As the gluten of wheat is a very tenacious 

 and adhesive substance, and of a dull gray colour, and farina of 

 a white colour ; and as the former is in excess, and the latter in 

 deficiency, in thi, new flour ; — these circumstances may in some 

 measure serve to explain why the bread is disposed to be clammy 

 and of a darker colour than is usually the case. 



I remain, dear sir, yours truly, 

 Cork, Jail. 17, 1817. EdmuND DaVY. 



XL IV. New 



