C 134 ] 



All these substances were submitted to experi- 

 ment green, and in their natural states. It is probable 

 that the excellence of the different articles as food 

 will be found to be in a great measure proportional to 

 the quantities of soluble or nutritive matters they 

 afford; but still these quantities cannot be regarded as 

 absolutely denoting their value. Albuminous or glutin- 

 ous matters have the characters of animal substances; 

 sugar is more nourishing, and extractive matter less 

 nourishing, than any other principles composed of car- 

 bon, hydrogene, and oxygene. Certain combinations 

 likewise of these substances may be more nutritive 

 than others. 



I have been informed by Sir Joseph Banks, that 

 the Derbyshire miners in winter, prefer oat cakes to 

 wheaten bread; finding that this kind of nourish- 

 ment enables them to support their strength and per- 

 form their labour better. In summer, they say oat 

 cake heats them, and they then consume the finest 

 wheaten bread they can procure. Even the skin of 

 the kernel of oats probably has a nourishing power, 

 and is rendered partly soluble in the stomach with the 

 starch and gluten. In most countries of Europe, ex- 

 cept Britain, and in Arabia, horses are fed with barley 

 mixed with chopped straw; and the chopped straw 

 seems to act the same part as the husk of the oat. In 

 the mill 14lbs. of good wheat yield on an average 

 ISlbs. of flour, the same quantity of barley 12lbs. and 

 of oats only 8lbs. 



In the south of Europe, hard or thin-skinned 

 wheat is in higher estimation, than soft or thick-skin- 



