PART V. 



PULSE OR LEGUMINOUS SEEDS. 



The Characteristics of Pulse— Preparation of Pulse for Food — Use of Pulse in 

 India — Botanical and Chemical Classification of Pulses. 



The seeds of leguminous plants, generally known as pulse, differ 

 chemically from the cereal grains in several particulars. They 

 sometimes contain rather more oil or fat — a constituent which may 

 rise even to 17 per cent, (in Inga-beans), to 18 per cent, (in soy- 

 beans), or to 50 per cent, (in pea-nuts). They rarely yield less 

 than 2>^ per cent., and often as much as 4, of mineral matter or 

 ash. More important, however, than either of these constituents, 

 is the nitrogenous matter of pulse. This is often called legumin, 

 or vegetable casein, but in reality it varies in different kinds of 

 pulse, and it is a mixture, not a single definite compound. Three 

 substances have been separated from the so-called vegetable 

 casein, none of them being identical in all respects with the 

 casein of milk. They are called respectively, gluten-casein, 

 legumin, and conglutin, but it would be hazardous to affirm that 

 the substances described under these names are perfectly definite 

 compounds. They contain, in 100 parts — 



