72 CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF 
Lieut.-Col. Colquhoun, R.A., from the province of Jatisco 
(Guadalagara), Mexico, in the year 1835, and which since 
then had remained neglected in a baggage warehouse. 
The specimen exhibited was the remainder of a package of 
75 lb. weight, made up, as customary, in the leaves and fibre 
of the plant, after having been subjected to considerable 
pressure. The state of preservation, after sixteen years, was 
favorably reported on by Dr. Lindley, and no signs of decom- 
position are yet perceptible in the specimens given to the 
author by Colonel, now Sir W. Reid; the sugar of the fruit 
having been sufficient to preserve them. They are prepared in 
considerable quantities in the hot region (tierra caliente) of 
the wéstern coast of Mexico, for consumption in the elevated 
districts of the interior. The Silver Medal of the Society of 
Arts was awarded for the first samples brought to England. 
See the ‘ Transactions,’ vol. 1, p. 48, for the method of prepa- 
ration, reprinted in ‘Trans. Agric. Soc. of India,’ viii, p. 60. 
Before, however, proceeding to detail the methods of pre- 
servation of the fruit, or the preparation of the meal, it is 
desirable to notice the relative values of these as compared 
with other kinds of fruit. This we are enabled to do from an 
excellent Report ‘ On the composition and nutritive value of 
Plantain Meal, by Professor Johnston, published in the 
‘Journal of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scot- 
land,’ in 1848, and to which attention has already been called 
by Professor Key, of Madras. By this we shall see that, in 
extending the culture of the Plantain, on account of its fibre, 
there is no probability of this ever becoming so extensive as 
for its fruit to become valueless. 
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF PLANTAIN FRUIT AND MEAL. 
Extracts from a Report upon the ‘Properties of the Plantain Meal.—This 
meal is of a slightly brownish colour, and has an agreeable odour, which 
becomes more perceptible when warm water is poured upon it, and it has a 
considerable resemblance to that of Orris root. 
When mixed with cold water, it forms a feebly tenacious dough, more 
adhesive than that of oatmeal, but much less so than that of wheaten flour. 
When baked on a plate, this dough forms a cake which is agreeable to the 
sense of smell, and is by no means unpleasant to the taste. 
By washing with water this dough leaves no residue of insoluble tenacious 
gluten, as that of wheaten flour does. When filtered from the starch, the 
wash water gives no cloudiness when rendered slightly sour by Acetic Acid, 
when boiled yields a little coagulated albumen. hether this is the case in 
