STAPLE 



STARCH 



683 



Staple, the modern form of the Anglo-Saxon 

 word stapel, meaning a heap, or regularly piled up 

 accumulation, of goods ; hence a place where goods 

 are stored up for sale. In the middle ages, when 

 the term was in common use, a staple meant both 

 the trading-town for particular commodities and 

 the commodities that were wont to be exposed for 

 sale there. The kings of England from the begin- 

 ning of the 14th century issued various regulations 

 affecting the staple towns for the sale of England's 

 principal commodity in those ages wool. In 1313 

 Edward II. enjoined that all English merchants 

 trading abroad, in Flanders, Brabant, and the 

 .adjacent countries, should carry all their wool to 

 one staple town in Flanders ; from 1343 Bruges 

 was the town that enjoyed this privilege. But the 

 men of Bruges greatly hampered the trade, and 

 put vexatious hindrances in tlie way of the English 

 merchants trading with the towns that lay farther 

 inland ; so that in 1353 Edward III. transferred 

 the staple to England, and shared its privileges 

 amongst half a score of coast towns from New- 

 castle to Bristol At the same time all questions 

 in dispute affecting mercantile transactions at these 

 towns were put under the jurisdiction of an officer 

 <one in each town) called the mayor of the staple, 

 who decided all such differences by ' merchant law," 

 with the assistance of foreign merchants as assessors. 

 The change to England, however, which it was 

 hoped would relieve the English merchant from the 

 vexatious interference of foreign governments and 

 advantage the inland country by attracting foreign 

 merchants, proved anything but satisfactory, and 

 from about the year 1362 the staple for English 

 wool was almost constantly fixed at Calais, and 

 remained there down to the year 1558. The Scottish 

 merchants had their staple at Campvere (q.v. ) in 

 Holland. But as commerce grew with the lapse 

 of time, it gradually broke down the barriers im- 

 posed by the system of staples. This concentra- 

 tion of trade in particular commodities or of par- 

 ticular countries at certain cities and towns was 

 owing to both economic and political reasons. It 

 was a sort of established policy of the Plantagenet 

 kings to regulate trade in the interests of the royal 

 power. Important privileges were accorded to 

 foreign merchants on condition of their agreeing 

 to frequent certain towns for purposes of traffic. 

 This, too, enabled the royal officers of the customs 

 the more readily and easily to collect the revenues 

 of the crown accruing from those sources. And 

 this line of state policy was so far congruent with 

 the requirements of international commerce that 

 it was the means of bringing buyers and sellers 

 together at the same time and in the same place, 

 and that it enabled the merchants trading from or 

 to one town or country, or association of trading- 

 towns, to combine together for their mutual advan- 

 tage and protection. 



Star. See STARS, ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD. 



Star Apple (Chrysophyllum), a genus of 

 trees and shrubs of the natural order Sapotaceje. 

 The species are natives of tropical and subtropical 

 countries. The Star Apple of the West Indies (C. 

 cainito) a a shrub about 8 or 10 feet high. The 

 Irnit is large, rose-coloured, mixed with green and 

 yellow, and has a soft sweet pulp of an agreeable 

 flavour. Other species produce edible fruit. 



Staraya-RllSHa, a town of Russia, 62 miles S. 

 of Novgorod by rail round Lake Ilmen, is remark- 

 able for its salt springs, which attract large numbers 

 of visitors in summer. Pop. 13,537. 



Starboard. See STEERING. 



Starbnck. See MANIHIKI ISLANDS. 



Starch, C,H, O r It is one of the essential 

 functions of the leaves of plants to decompose 



carbonic acid, by the help of sunlight which shines 

 through the chlorophyll, with evolution of oxygen 

 and the formation of starch. The starch becomes 

 converted by a diastatic ferment into sugar, which 

 passes from the leaves to various parts of the 

 plants, and being reconverted into starch, is stored. 

 See CHLOROPHYLL, LEAF, and SEED. It is in this 

 way that fruits and seeds, stems e.g. that of the 

 sago palm tubei's like the potato, tap-roots, bulbs, 

 &c. become stored with starch. The granules of 

 starch are usually of a rounded form, consisting of 

 a nucleus surrounded by a number of envelopes or 

 layers. Each species of plant has its own peculiar 



Starch Grannies : 



a, wheat ; b, rice ; e, potato ; d. maize : all magnified 250 

 diameters. ( From Dr Bell's Chemistry of Foodi.) 



shape of granule which can be recognised under the 

 microscope, but in the same plant these granules 

 differ in size. The smallest size of a granule of 

 oat-starch is '0001, while the largest sized granule 

 of Tous-les-mois starch is about '0015 of an inch. 

 In a small book on the Chemistry of Foods, by Dr 

 Bell of the Somerset House Laboratory, the reader 

 will find a considerable number of illustrations of 

 starches as seen under the microscope. 



Starch has the same elementary composition as 

 sugar, gum, and woody fibre (cellulose). These 

 all belong to a class of substances called carbo- 

 hydrates, because they could be represented as 

 compounds of carbon and water, as shown by the 

 formula given above, which corresponds to six 

 atoms of carbon and live molecules of water, H 2 O. 

 Starch contains no nitrogen, and is thus distin- 

 guished from characteristic animal compounds. 

 The peculiar structure of starch granules and the 

 way in which they occur in the vegetable cell 

 permit of their being readily separated from other 

 matters occurring along with them in plants. As 

 usually prepared, starch is either a white glistening 

 powder or it is obtained in irregular prisms which 

 arise from the cracking up of a cake of the dried 

 material. When pressed between the lingers a 

 slight but peculiar sound is produced. Its specific 

 gravity varies from 1 '55 to 1 '60. Starch is soluble 

 only to a very slight extent in cold water, but when 

 heated in water to above 150 F. the granules burst, 

 and a clear ropy solution is formed which, on cool- 

 ing, becomes a translucent jelly called starch-paste. 

 This paste gives a deep blue colour with iodine 

 and an orange yellow with bromine, the former 

 being a highly characteristic and delicate test for 

 starch. If a salt of iodine, such as iodide of potas- 

 sium, is used, the iodine must be liberated either 



