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MEMOIR ON 



thin sections under a good microscope, will be found 

 to consist of a great number of six-sided cells, filled 

 with a fixed oil, which has been successfully employed 

 for the purposes of illumination. It is stated that a 

 distillery has been established in ,the vicinity of Lake 

 Ontario, where this oil is extracted, at the rate of six- 

 teen gallons from one hundred bushels of corn, leaving 

 the remaining portion of the corn more valuable and 

 in better condition for distillation than before the oil is 

 extracted. On this oil depends the 



POPPING QUALITIES OF CORN. 



For, when the kernels are heated to a temperature suf- 

 ficiently high to decompose the oil, a sudden explosion 

 takes place, and every cell is ruptured by the expansion 

 of gaseous matters arising from the decomposition of 

 the oil, and the formation of carburetted hydrogen gas, 

 such as is sometimes used in lighting large cities, the 

 grain being completely evoluted and folded back, or 

 turned inside out. This property is remarkably strong 

 in the pop corn, and is common, in a greater or les 

 degree, in all kinds of corn that abound in oil ; but those 

 varieties destitute of a horny covering, as the Tuscarora, 

 and white flour-corn, will not pop under any circum- 

 stances whatever. 



This change in corn is one of considerable im- 

 portance, so far as regards facility of digestion ; for, 

 after the decomposition or extraction of this oil, it is 

 more readily digested by man, though less fattening to 

 poultry, cattle, swine, &c. 



One important use of the oil in corn is undoubtedly 

 to prevent the rapid decomposition of the kernels, 

 when sown in the soil, and to retain a portion of 

 pabulum or food, until needed by the young plant, and 

 is always the last portion of the grain taken up. It 

 also serves to keep meal from souring, as it has been 

 observed that a flint-corn meal will keep sweet for 

 years, even when put up in large quantities, without 

 being kiln-dried ; while the meal of Tuscarora corn 

 will become sour in a very short time. 



