standard, as well as the cause of this inefficiency, had 

 appeared with more distinctness — other difficulties had led 

 to the search for a better chemical method of determining the 

 amount of milling and at the same time the grade of activity. 

 These difficulties were more of a technical nature, and arose 

 principally because the estimating of the P 2 5 content 

 was laborious, tedious, took too much time, and was too 

 expensive. First of all efforts were made to find differences 

 between the silver-skin and the rice-kernel which would 

 make it possible to follow a more qualitative and at the same 

 time simpler method of investigation. The efforts in this 

 direction remained however entirely without the desired 

 result. The search for another more suitable quantitative 

 test met with more success. 



This was found by estimating the substances of the outside 

 layers of the grain which were soluble in spirit. 



The train of thought which was at the foundation of this 

 method was the following. If in reality the estimation of 

 the P 2 5 or the ash amount allowed a correct judgment as 

 to the activity of rice, then other by-products appearing in 

 different degrees in the thin outer skin and in the kernel 

 might just as well be taken into consideration as indicators 

 for this activity. It was not impossible that one or more of 

 these substances could be used for this purpose even better 

 than P 2 5 , always supposing that about ten times more of 

 it is to find in the silver-skin than in the kernel, as is the 

 aisu with P 2 5 . 



It is known that with grain in general the germ and the 

 sub-pericarpial layers house all kinds of substances, for 

 instance: aleurone, proteins, resinous substances, fats, etc. 

 frequently also some tanning and colouring substances, while 

 these are almost or entirely absent in the kernel which 

 consists very nearly exclusively of starch (amylum). There 

 is theoretically no objection to the estimating of these 

 substances, but so far as they can be practically carried out 

 they offer the same difficulties as the estimating of the P 2 5 



