ADULTERATIONS OF WHEAT FLOUR. 



It is not the aim of these articles to give information that 

 will enable a miller to sell, at first class prices, a quality of 

 flour that ought never to be sold ; nor is it to show how 

 dark, musty flour may be rendered so white as to deceive the 

 public ; nor to prove how wicked it is to sell substances un- 

 wholesome or injurious to health under the name of wheat 

 flour. But the aim is to show how easily any foreign sub- 

 stance in flour may be detected. The miller who prides him- 

 self on the secrecy with which he, in the dark recesses of his 

 mill, grinds up different substances to mix with wheat, little 

 dreams that it is impossible for him to powder them so fine 

 that they cannot be seen under a microscope. There is noth- 

 ing used to any great extent, either as a substitute or an 

 adulteration of wheat flour, that has not been detected by 

 either the microscopist or the chemist. And any miller, 

 with a slight expense to himself of time and money, may learn 

 to detect foreign substances, if present, in any specimen of 

 wheat flour that comes to his notice. A microscope, some pub- 

 lished illustrations of the different, ingredients that one meets, 

 together with a few weeks of practice, will be all that he 

 needs. There are a few chemical substances whose presence 

 can not be detected by means of the microscope. Chemical 

 tests have to be called into requisition to discover these. Min- 

 eral ingredients have been reported many times, by foreign 

 writers, as forming a part of flour, but these substances have 

 never been reported, to my knowledge, as an adulteration used 

 by any American miller. Their detection will be spoken of in 

 the proper place. We have to deal now only with the sim- 

 ple forms that are found so readily with the microscope. 



As these articles are to instruct, and not to please, I will 

 digress long enough to say a word about the choice of the 

 microscope necessary for such work. Any cheap, simple stand 



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