PREFACE, 



In placing this little work before Analysts and 

 others interested in food products, the author would 

 like to acknowledge the valuable assistance he has 

 received from Professor Kinch, of the Royal 

 Agricultural College, Cirencester, through whose 

 instrumentality he has been able to obtain some 

 authentic specimens of Starch herein illustrated, which, 

 in the ordinary course, it would be difficult to obtain. 

 The value of the carbo-hydrate, starch, as a heat-giving 

 food has been so ably described by Professor A. H. 

 Chuech, in his work on " Food," published in connec- 

 tion with the Food Department of the Bethnal Green 

 Museum, that any lengthened notice on that part of 

 the subject is unnecessary. 



The object of the author in publishing these' 

 Photo-micrographs is to facilitate the identification of 

 Starch when used either for purposes of substitution or 

 adulteration. Its use for diluting mustard and similar 

 condiments is well known, and any means by which 

 its fraudulent use can be detected must necessarily 

 prove useful, especially when it enables the analyst, 

 not only to detect Starch, but also to trace its origin to 

 the plant from which it is derived. It is not possible, 

 by chemical means, to discriminate between the Starch 

 of one plant and that of another, but in most cases 



