GEEMINATIOSr. 319 



(40° lu) suffer by germination such chemical change that the 

 oil rapidly diminishes in quantity (nine-tenths disappears,) 

 while at the same time starch, and, in some cases, sugar, is 

 formed. ( Vs. St., Ill, p. 1.) 



Solution of Starch. — The starch that is thus organized 

 from the fat of the oily seeds, or that which exists ready- 

 formed in the farinaceous (floury) seeds, undergoes further 

 changes, which have been previously alluded to (p. 78), 

 whereby it is converted into substances that are soluble 

 in water, viz., dextrin and grape oj: cane sugar. 



Solution of Albuminoids. — Finally, the insoluble al- 

 buminoids are gradually transformed into soluble modifi- 

 cations. 



Chemistry of Malt. — The preparation and properties 

 of malt may serve to give an insight into the nature of 

 the chemical metamorphoses that have just been indicated. 



The preparation is in this wise. Barley or wheat 

 (sometimes rye) is soaked in water until the kernels are 

 soft to the fingers ; then it is drained and thrown up in 

 heaps. The masses of soaked grain shortly dry, become 

 heated, and in a few days the embryos send forth their 

 radicles. The heaps are shoveled over, and spread out so 

 as to avoid too great a rise of temperature, and when the 

 sprouts are about half an inch in length, the germination 

 is checked by drying. The dry mass, after removing the 

 sprouts (radicles,) is malt, such as is used in the manufac- 

 ture of beer. 



Malt thus consists of starchy seeds whose germination 

 ' has been checked while in its early stages. The only prod- 

 uct of the beginning growth — the sprouts — being remov- 

 ed, it exhibits in the residual seed the first results of the 

 process of solution. 



The following figures, derived from the researches of 

 Stein, in Dresden,- (TRMa's Centralblatt, 1860, 2, pp. 8- 

 23,) exhibit the composition of 100 parts of Barley, and 



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