200 POWDERED VEGETABLE DRUGS 



Vegetable starches play a very important part in human economy. 

 The starch of barley and of other cereals, of corn and of rice, figure in 

 beer making, whiskey making and in sake making, respectively. 

 Library paste, the fixative of court plasters, of stamps, and of labels, 

 and of envelopes, is made from starch. Glucose is made largely from 

 corn starch. The " karo " or " corn syrup " of the market is corn 

 starch glucose to which a small amount of syrup is added to increase 

 the sweetening power, as pure glucose is less sweet than is syrup 

 (sucrose) . Glucose has a food value about equal to that of cane sugar 

 or syrup, and is somewhat more readily digested, and is especially 

 indicated in kidney troubles and in dropsy. Since the discontinuation 

 of the brewing industry, in this country, some of the breweries are now 

 making malt extract which is really a syrup containing from 70 to 85 

 per cent, of total sugars, largely maltose with some sucrose and small 

 amount of dextrin and dextrose. It is of the consistency of thick honey, 

 brown to reddish brown color and an agreeably sweet taste. Its food 

 value is greater than that of sucrose syrup and equal to that of glucose 

 and it furthermore assists in starch digestion, due to the presence of the 

 enzyme maltase which is carried over from the malt in the process of 

 manufacture. Malt syrup is considered an excellent food in wasting 

 diseases as tuberculosis, and for infants. In pharmaceutical practice 

 it is employed as an emulsifying agent and as a basis for cod liver oil. 

 It is sweeter than glucose but less sweet than cane sugar. Its special 

 value as a food for infants lies in the fact that it is less prone to fer- 

 mentative decomposition in the intestinal tract than is cane sugar, 

 and it also assists and regulates the normal bacterial activity of the 

 intestinal tract. Because of its starch digesting power it is an ideal 

 sweetening agent to be used with starchy foods, as pancakes, hot 

 rolls, bread, etc. Starch* is used in the manufacture of dextrin (white 

 and brown dextrin) and as a stiffening for cloth in the laundry. It is 

 also much used as an adultrant in ' ice cream, confections 

 and in sausage meats (starch and cereal fillers) , in pastes (vegetable as 

 well as animal), in so-called egg substitutes, in spices, powdered drugs, 

 etc. 



The microscopic appearance and the polariscopic behavior of the 

 formed plant starches is most interesting and of the utmost importance 

 to the microanalyst in the identification of vegetable substances as 

 well as in the search for adulterations. The granules vary greatly 

 in size, yet the largest (potato, canna, maranta) can hardly be recog- 

 nized by the unaided eye. A thin mount of potato starch on a slide 

 held between the eye and good light will reveal the individual granules 

 to one possessed of undiminished normal vision. Under the high 



