of the University of Pennsylvania. 67 



presented, the following deductions appear to us 

 justifiable: 



I. The carbohydrates of bran are digested by 

 man to but a slight degree. 



II. The nutritive salts of the wheat-grain are 

 contained chiefly in the bran, and, therefore, when 

 bread is eaten to the exclusion of other foods, 

 the kinds of bread which contain these elements 

 are the more valuable. When, however, as is 

 usually the case, bread is used as an adjunct to 

 other foods which contain the inorganic nutritive 

 elements, a white bread offers, weight for weight, 

 more available food than does one containing bran. 



III. That by far the major portion of the gluten 

 of wheat exists in the central four-fifths of the 

 grain, entirely independent of the cells of the fourth 

 bran-layer (the so-called "gluten-cells"). Further, 

 that the cells last named, even when thoroughly 

 cooked, are little if at all affected by passage 

 through the digestive tract of the healthy adult. 



IV. That in an ordinary mixed diet the reten- 

 tion of bran in flour is a false economy, as its pres- 

 ence so quickens peristaltic action as to prevent 

 the complete digestion and absorption not only of 

 the proteids present in the branny food, but also of 

 other food-stuffs ingested at the same time; and, 



