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being converted into a uniformly translucent mass known as 
starch paste in which the minute particles are suspended in the 
water, but are not dissolved. 
It is well known that starch grains do not swell or break up to 
any great extent when heated in an air-dry condition at the tem- 
peratures employed in bread-making by ordinary methods. Al- 
though bread is one of the oldest and most widely used food 
preparations yet it is by no means to be considered as an eco- 
nomical use of starch since the granules in the center of a loaf 
are practically unchanged and therefore digestible only with great 
difficulty. The desired changes do ensue to some extent in the 
crust, but in prevailing methods of preparation the proportion of 
the whole amount of starch present made available for rapid digest 
tion is very small. 
As a result of almost continuous work during the past year I 
have been so fortunate as to develop a method by which, with the 
application of heat to starch grains and to air-dry starch in many 
forms, the granules or particles are expanded to many times their 
original dimensions, being fractured into innumerable fragments 
during the process. Asa result of this treatment a grain of rice 
is expanded to eight or more times its original volume, while still 
retaining its original form. Other cereals exhibit similar behavior. 
The process is applicable to nearly all starchy seeds and starchy 
substances, greatly increasing their nutritive availability. The 
products obtained are pleasant to the taste, and the process may 
be varied to produce a great variety of flavors with any given 
cereal. Furthermore the material prepared in this manner is 
absolutely sterilized and may be preserved or stored for long 
periods. Iam led to hope from the approval the products have 
met from food and chemical experts that the process may prove 
of great economic and commercial value. 
The experiments by which this method was developed were 
begun at Clemson College, South Carolina, in the spring of 1901, 
but no results of any direct bearing upon the process mentioned 
were obtained at that time. pon my removal to Columbia Uni- 
versity in August, 1901, time was afforded me to resume the in- 
vestigations, and in the Laboratories of the New York Botanical 
