NUTRITIVE QUALITIES OF BREAD. 



143 



Here again we appeal to the philosophical au- 

 thority of the Professor. " The solid parts 

 of the human body," says Mr. Johnston, 

 " consist principally of three several portions 

 — the fat, the muscle, and the bone. These 

 three substances are liable to constant waste 

 in the living body, and therefore must be con- 

 stantly renewed from the food we eat." 

 "Again, the fluid parts of the body contain 

 the substances in a liquid form, on their way 

 to or from the several parts of the body in 

 which they are required. They include also 

 a portion of salt or saline matter that is also 

 obtained from the food." " It is self-evident 

 that that food must be most nourishing which 

 Bupphes all these ingredients of the body 

 most abundantly on the whole, or in propor- 

 tions most suited to the actual wants of the in- 

 dividual animal to which it is given." 



I have slated that a sack of wheat loses in 

 bran 40 lbs. Professor Johnston forms his es- 

 timate lower, thus : 



" The amount of husk separated by the 

 miller, and which is not sold for human use, 

 varies much ; I do not overestimate it when 

 we consider it as forming one-eighth of the 

 whole. On this supposition eight pounds of 

 wheat yield seven of flour, consumed by man, 

 and one of pollard and bran, which are given 

 to animals — chiefly to poultry and pigs. If 

 the whole meal be used, however, 8 lbs. of 

 flour will be obtained, or eight people wiU 

 be fed by the same weight of grain which 

 only fed seven before. 



The calculation, however, is too low ; for 

 thirty pounds of coarse bran only, to say 

 nothing of the pollards, is far below the 

 quantity abstracted from a sack of wheat. 

 The greatest economy of product is unques- 

 tionably atTected by the use of entire flour 

 made from white wheat, and the quality made 

 from that material is excellent. Sucii bread 

 is obtained at Croydon ; it is sweet and pure 

 in flavor, far from brown in color, and is per- 

 fectly salubrious ; the cost from Id. to lijd. 

 below that of the household loaf. Presuming, 

 then, that the flour from a sack of white 

 wheat weighs 236 lbs., inclusive of the bran, 

 then, if one-third be added for the water im- 

 bibed and retained in the bread, the yield of 

 every such sack will be more by a fraction 

 than 314 lbs. — a consideration of immense irft- 

 portance during periods of real or even ima- 

 ginary scarcity, when the prices become dis- 

 tressingly high. 



The assimilative qualities of wheat now 

 must be considered, and herein Mr. Johu- 

 etou's analyses and report must be consulted. 

 We have already Been that he classes the solid 

 parts of the human body under three heads 

 — fat, muscle, and bone ; and he follows up 

 the subject thus by inductive reasoning : 



" What is the composition of pure white 

 flour which contains no bran, and what the 

 composition of whole meal ? How much of 

 each is also contained in the wh(jle grain ? 



" I. The Fat. — Of this ingredient a thou- 

 sand pouudd of the 

 (287) 



\Vhole grain contain 28 lbs. 



Fine flour 20 .. 



Bran 60 .. 



So that the bran is much richer in fat than 

 the interior part of the grain ; and the whole 

 grain ground together (whole meal) is richer 

 than the finer part in the proportion of nearly 

 one-lialf 



" 2. The Muscular Matter. — Numerous ex- 

 periments have been made in my laboratory 

 to determine these proportions in the fine 

 flour and the whole seed of several varieties 

 of grain. The particular results in the case 

 of wheat and Indian coni were as follows : 



A thousand pounds of the whole grain 

 and of the fine stock contained of muscular 

 matter 



Wheat in the whole grain 156 Ibe. In fine flour 130 lbs 

 IndianCom 140.. .. 110.. 



Here, then, is a marked predominance of the 

 mgredient of strength and pojrer in favor of 

 the entire flour of either grain. 



" 3. Bone Material (phosphate of lime- 

 bone phosphate) and Saline Material. — Of 

 these mineral constituents, as they may be 

 called, of the animal body, a thousand pounds 

 of bran, whole meal, and fine flour contain re- 

 spectively 



Bran 700 lbs. 



Whole meal 170 .. 



Fine tk)ur 60 .. 



So that, in regard to this important part of 

 our food necessary to all living animals, but es- 

 pecially to tlie young who who are growing, 

 and to the mother who is giving milk, the 

 whole meal is three times more nourishing 

 than the fine flour ." 



If any credence be attached to chemical 

 analyses, and in particular to the experiments 

 of a chemist so thoroughly practical as Pro 

 fessor Johnston, the case of the superior 

 value of whole meal bread is absolutely made 

 out ; and it would be found a circumstance 

 of inestimable value to the entire conmiunity 

 were there a legislative enactment to the ef 

 feet that no bread should be publicly baked, 

 and sold that was not made either from entire 

 flour, or from the farmers' " one-way " grist 

 before described. The latter, indeed, ap- 

 pears to be the quality of the bread by mis- 

 conceptiou termed " second ; " and I caa 

 venture to assert that the loaf prepared from 

 flour of a quality so pure and genuine as that 

 obtained from the mill-ground " one-way " 

 would bring thousands of converts to the 

 opinion now so boldly, and with truth, ad- 

 vanced by -Mr. Johnston. 



As a farther confirmation of this theory, 

 one more Table of calculations is adduced; it 

 is therein stated that " a thousand pounds of 

 the three substances contain of the three sev- 

 eral ingredients the proportions of 



Whole Meal. Fine Flour. 



Muscularniatter 156 lbs. 130 lbs. 



Boue material 170 .. 60 



Fat 28 .. 20 .1 



Total in each ..354 Iba. 210 lbs. 



