STARCH. 



81 



STARCH GRAINS OF WHEAT FLOUR. 



has here sometimes the form of a circular pore, and sometimes that 

 of a transverse fissure or slit. 



The grains of wheat starch (Fig. -i) are still smaller than those 

 of arrowroot. They vary 



from ^0^ to 7 ff of an inch Fl S- 4 - 



in diameter. They are 

 nearly circular in form, with 

 a round or transverse hilus, 

 but without any distinct 

 appearance of lamination; 

 Many of them are flattened 

 or compressed laterally, so 

 that they present a broad 

 surface in one position, and 

 a narrow edge when viewed 

 in the opposite direction. 



The starch grains of In- 

 dian corn (Fig. 5) are of 

 nearly the same size with 



those of wheat flour. They are somewhat more irregular and 

 angular in shape ; and are often marked with crossed or radiating 

 lines, as if from partial fracture. 



Starch is also an ingre- Fi g- 5 - 



dient of the animal body. 

 It was first observed by 

 Purkinje, and afterward by 

 Kolliker, 1 that certain bodies 

 are to be found in the interior 

 of the brain, about the late- 

 ral ventricles, in the fornix, 

 septum lucidum and other 

 parts, which present a cer- 

 tain resemblance to starch 

 grains, and which have there- 

 fore been called "corpora 

 amylacea." Subsequently 

 Virchow 8 corroborated the 

 above observations, and ascertained the corpora amylacea to b( 



STARCH GRAINS OF IXDIAX CORS. 



1 Handbuch der fJnweLelelire, Leipzig, 1852, p. 311. 



2 In American Journal Med. Sui., April, 1854, p. 466. 



