COMPOSITION OF RICE-MEAL, OR RICE-DUST. 5 



a. 18.31 grains of oatmeal, from white oats, dried at 212 F., gave 

 6.88 chloride of platinum and ammonium, or 2.59 per cent of nitro- 

 gen, which is equal to 14.743 per cent of flesh-forming substances. 



b. 13.60 grains of oatmeal, from black English oats, dried at 

 212 F., gave 4.83 of chloride of platinum and ammonium, or 2.230 

 per cent of nitrogen, equal to 13.94 per cent of flesh-forming sub- 

 stances. 



We thus see that Scottish meal possesses greater nutritive value 

 than the meal prepared from black English oats. It is true, the 

 difference in the proportion of flesh-forming principles in both 

 kinds of oatmeal is not very great, but still the superiority of the 

 Scottish sample in this respect appears to us more than sufficient 

 to compensate for the greater price at which the white oats were 

 bought. Apparently the difference in favour of the black English 

 oats is 4s. 6d., but we have seen that it actually amounted merely 

 to Is. 4d. per quarter, supposing both kinds to possess equal nutri- 

 tive value which, however, is not the case. 



Taking the greater nutritive value of the white oats into con- 

 sideration, we are inclined to consider it more economical to pay 

 1 for white than 15s. 6d. for black oats. 



It will hardly be necessary to mention that the above observa- 

 tions apply merely to the two samples of oats which have been 

 examined, and not in general to all kinds of Scottish and English 

 oats. 



The Composition of Rice-Meal or Rice-Dust. By Dr AUGUSTUS 

 VOELCKER. Rice-meal, rice-dust, or rice-refuse, which is obtained 

 in cleaning rice for our market, consists of the husk and external 

 layers of rice, together with fragments of the grain itself, and 

 some accidental foreign impurities. This refuse has been used by 

 several practical feeders with advantage in the feeding of stock. 

 Whenever it can, therefore, be obtained at a moderate price, rice- 

 dust will be found a valuable article of food, provided it is given 

 to cattle judiciously along with other more substantial food. We 

 fear, however, that this refuse is sold often much above its real 

 value, and it appeared to us necessary, for this reason, to deter- 

 mine its value by analysis. From the manner in which rice-dust 

 is obtained, we cannot expect it to be of uniform composition, 

 but the following analyses may be taken as representing the com- 

 position of a fair average sample of unadulterated rice-dust The 

 sample analysed was offered for sale at 3, 12s. 6d. in London, 

 or, with expenses for carriage to Cirencester, would have cost 

 4, 5s. 6d. per ton. 



a. Percentage of water. Dried in the water-bath, it lost 12.019 

 per cent of water, or about the same quantity which common flour 

 loses on drying. 



b. Percentage of ash. Burnt in a platinum capsule, a whitish 



