1855.] 



USE OF LIME-WATER IN THE FORMATION OF BREAD. 



309 



0U3 views liave been maintained ; but at lengtli a few simple experi- 

 menls of M. Godi-on of Jiesancon appear to have disposed of the ques- 

 tion. M. Godron's paper is publislied in the Annates dcs Sciences Na- 

 lurelles, vol, ii. for 18-j4, No. 4. lie remarks, in the first place, that 

 the so-called species, JEijUops Irilicoides, is only of sparse and occa- 

 ional occurrence ; that it is seldom if ever found except in the vicinity 

 of wheat lields, and in the districts where ^'E. oi'aia abounds as a wild 

 plant ; that intermediate states between yE. ovala and yE. Irilicoides 

 do not occur, as they are apt to do between races or varieties of any 

 species ; but that ,<B. Irilicoides itself varies in certain respects and ac- 

 cording to the kind of wheat which is cultivated in the neighborhood ; 

 and finally, that the wild jE. Irilicoides usually produces very little 

 seed. From these considerations he was naturally led to suspect JE. 

 irilicoides to be a hybrid, resulting from the accidental fecundation of 

 ^E. ovala by the pollen of wheat. And this conclusion he has verified 

 by direct experiment; that is, he has raised yC ^/■iVfcoirfcs from seeds 

 produced by impi-egnating the ovaries of JE. ovala by wheat pollen. 

 At the same time, and in the same manner, M Godron produced a 

 new and analogous hybrid by impregnating JErjilops iriarislata with 

 the pollen of common wheat; as well as another by impregnating JE. 

 4 ovala with the pollen oi Bearded Spelt (Triiicum Spella, barbalum). It 

 seems, therefore, most probable that M. Fabre's yEgilops-wheat owed 

 its origin to the accidental fertilization of the jE. irilicoides experi- 

 mented with — itself a hybrid between wheat and yE. ovala — by the 

 pollen of its male parent, wafted from adjacent wheat-fields ; the 

 cross-breed returning to the male type in the usual manner under 

 such circumstances. 



This evidence, however, does not convince Dr. Lindley ; who objects 

 that M. Godron and others have not explained what the origin of 

 wheat has been, if it is not a domesticated condition of ^Ey.lops ; — an 

 undertaken which we must say is by no means incumbent upon M. 

 Godron, who had accomplished his object when he has shown, as he 

 has clearly done, that JI. Fabre's famous experiments do not prove 

 yEgilops to be the original of wheat; - although in his opinion the two 

 should be ranked in the same genus. Cau Dr. Lindley indicate the 

 wild original of Maize, Rye, Barley, or Rice ? And does the fact that 

 the originals (if they indeed exist) are unknown, render it any more 

 likely that these cereal grains are the progonj', in altered guise, of 

 some other known Gramineaa ? 



Tlie late Assyrinii lExpcditioii. 



Col. RawUnson has arrived in London from Bagdad, having brought 

 to a close the excavations in Assyria and Babylonia which he has been 

 superintending for the last three years on behalf of the Trustees of the 

 British iMuscum. The results of these excavations have already in 

 part readied tlie Museum, but the most valuable portions of them are 

 still in transit. One hundred and fifty cases coutaining sculptures, 

 inscribed tablets, terra-cotta cylinders, and a very large collection of 

 small objects of Assyrian Art, were recently unpacked at the Museum. 

 One perfect obelisk, and the fragment of a second, are the only objects 

 of tills collection which have been yet exhibited to the public in the 

 .'Vs.syrian Gallery; but the inscribed tablets, which amount in number, 

 we believe, to at least 10,000, the two fine cylinders from Kilch Sher- 

 gat, and all the smaller relics — -which, for better security, arc deposi- 

 ted in closed ca?es — can be examined by the curious. A collection of 

 almost cr|ual extent and of greater value — inasmuch as the sculptures 

 belong to the culminating period of Assyrian Art, and are infinitely 

 superior to those which form the present Nineveh Gallery at the Mu- 

 seum — was shipped last month at Bussorah, and may be expected to 

 reacli the Thames in .Vugust or September ; while a third or supple- 

 mentary collection, composed of select specimens, the master-pieces of 

 Assyrian Art which were disinterred from the new Palace at Nineveh 

 during the past autumn and winter, is about to be brought to Europe, 

 in virtue of an arrangement concluded between Col. Kawlinsou and M. 

 I'lace on board the Manuel, a vessel which was sent out by the French 

 Government for the purpose of bringing home the collections of M. M. 

 Place and Fresnel. Col. Rawlinson has further brought with him 

 over-land a single small case, containing, among other relics of espe- 

 cial interest, the Nebuchadnezzar cylinders which he obtained from 

 Cirs Nimrud in the autumn of last year, and tho.sc still more valuable 

 cylinders of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, which record the 

 name of that monarch's eldest son Bclshar-ezer, the Belshazzar of 

 Daniel. It is sincerely to be hoped that means will be found for ex- 

 hibiting these .slabs to tlie public, as soon as the whole of the three 

 collections simll have arrived, cither Ijy a new arrangement of the pre- 



sent Assyrian Gallery, or by the allotment of fre.'sh space to the Anti- 

 quity Department of the Museum. Unless, indeed, some measures of 

 this nature are taken, the fruits of the late Assyrian Expedition, of 

 which the labours are now brought to a close, will be lost to the great 

 majority of the nation, — the number of those who can appreciate the 

 historical and scientific results, obtained from so vast an accumulation of 

 cuneiform materials, being, of course, comparatively few. — Alhenosum. 



The SaiUt St> Dlaric Caual. 



The leading demensions of this important link of communication be- 

 tween the Ocean and the Lake Superior regions are as follows: — 



Its length is one mile and an eighth, its width 70 feet at bottom, and 

 100 at water line, depth 12 feet, and of sufficient capacity to admit 

 steamboats of 2,000 tons burden, and larger than can pass up the St. 

 Mary's River. This is sufficiently large for all the trade that will be 

 carried on through it for years. If there were a ship canal round the 

 Falls of Niagara of equal capacity, and a few thousand dollars expend- 

 ed in improving the navigation of St. Clair Flats and St. Mary's Kiver, 

 a steamer of 2,000 tons might make an uninterrupted passage from 

 Liverpool to Fond du Lac, at the head.of Lake Superior. 



The Locks are deservedly admired on account of their beauty, dura- 

 bility and perfect manner in which the stone and workmanship had 

 stood the test of a rigorous winter. The gates are of massive construc- 

 tion, but work with great ease, andbeingof vast strength, and securely 

 fixed in their places, and stayed by numerous iron braces, four inches 

 square, running down into, and anchored below the stone work, they 

 can hardly be supposed to give way. They are easily handled by two 

 men. 



It is anticipated that the slope of the walls, (4-5 deg.) will interfere 

 with the passage of side-wheel steamers, especially when the wind is 

 blowing fresh, to obviate which difficultj-, snubbing posts have been 

 set a distance of four hundred feet apart on the tow-patli ;-idc, and two 

 hundred feet distant on the river or heel-path side, and the State En- 

 gineer is of opinion that a large scow will be required to keep the side- 

 wheel crafts off the banks. 



The present State tariff" of tolls, is fixed at a minihium of four cents 

 per ton, measurement, which would give on an ordinaij' schooner, 

 from i^lO to .$15 ; on a brig, from $17.50 to S20 ; on a large propeller 

 5)30, and on side-wheel steamboats, from •'$40 to >550. 



The means of getting boats and propellers through the Canal, is of 

 course by the use of their wheels, but sail vessels will require to be 

 towed, and for that purpose horses will be required, the expense of 

 towage falling, of course upon the vessels. A wide and handsome 

 tow-path has been made upon the right bank of the work, and a cor- 

 responding heel-path upon the left bank. 



On the twenty-first jMay 1855, the day on which the State authorities 

 ■were upon the work, there was 12 feet 8 inches of water at the head 

 of the upper pier, and 12 feet 5 inches in depth in the lower lock, con- 

 sequently any vessel, no matter how heavily laden, which has ever na- 

 vigated the western waters, could pass up and down with ease, as the 

 locks ar; seventy feet in width, and three hundred and fifty feet in 

 length, in the clear. The average class of steamers do not draw over 

 nine feet, loaded. 



The artificial walls, or banks of the canal arc from seventy to one 

 hundred feet in thickness at the. bottom, and thirty-five feet at the 

 high water line, standing on both slopes at an angle of forty-five de- 

 grees, lined with dry stone work on the sides inward. 



The aggregate lift of the locks, is seventeen feet six inches. 



Use orLiiiiie»'\Vatci' lit the Ftii'tiiatiuii ol' Urcntl* 



To neutralise the deterioration which the gluten of tlour undergoes 

 by keeping, bakers add sulphate of copper or alum with the damaged 

 flour. Professor Liebig, however, has conceived the idea of employ- 

 ing lime, in the state of solution, saturated without heat. After hav- 

 ing kneaded the Hour with water, and lime, he adds the yeast, and 

 leaves the dough to itself; the fermcntaticni commences, and is devel- 

 oped as usual ; and if we aild the remainder of the Hour to the fermen- 

 ted dough at the proper time, we obtain, after baking, an excellent, 

 elastic, spongy bread, free from acid, of an agreeable taste, and which 

 is preferred to all other bread after it has been eaten for some time. 

 Tlie proportions of tlour and lime-water to be employed are in the ratio 

 of 10 to 5. As the quantity of liquid is not sullicioiit for converting 

 the Ihnir into dough, it is completed with ordinary water. The quan- 



