i-needed improved pulpit 



Chemical Composition .—The 

 dried in transit, so that they sho 

 analysis, however, will give an i< 



Dictionary, and which I append 



Starch 



27-07 



26 00 





Fibre 









Fat 





0-07 





Albumin - 



1-56 



1-58 





Sugar, gum, &c. - - 















Water 



62-96 



65-50 







10000 



100-00 



The ash consisted of phosphate of lime and alkaline sulphates, and 

 chlorides. 



I have made an attempt lo introduce the residual coarse fibre as a raw 

 material for paper manufacture, but consumers say that it is too weak, 

 and kicking in tenacity. For paper making the starch still remaining 

 could be recovered by steeping in boiling water, and used for sizing the 

 finished paper. 



Owing to the fall in the value of sugar, the production of arrowroot 

 in the West Indies has been extended rather beyond the demand. The 

 wholesale price has consequently fallen to an almost nnremtUtt ■rat is- 

 point. This low price, however, will permit it to be used for whatever 

 purposes the commoner kinds of starch are now employed. In some 

 respects it is superior to common starch, and one of my chief objects in 

 writing this paper is to draw the attention of large user's of starch to this 

 comparatively new source of very fine starch. Arrowroot swells much more 

 readily and with less heat than maize, rice, or wheat starch, and forms a 

 stiffer jelly. It is, therefore, highly adaptable for sizing and laundry 

 purposes. I think this property is attributable to the larger size of the 

 granules of arrowroot starch, which are among the largest of the starch 

 granules, whereas the granules of wheat, maize, and rice starch are very 

 small, and will contain a greater prop Eom ami less 



granulose, the latter being the substance which swells when dissolved in 

 hot water. Another use for which arrowroot starch is very suitable on 

 account of its great purity and freedom from chemicals, is for the pre- 

 paration of powder for the skin. Many of the powders sold are com- 

 posed of v. t rushed and 

 dried on a plate before the fire is both simple and safe. 



It is as an article of food, however, that it has hitherto been mostly 

 used, but the exorbitant retail price put on it (from Hd. to 2s. per lb.) 

 has kept it out of general use. Of course, being staivh. ii cannot have 

 the flesh-forming power of flour and other nitrogenous meals, but it is 

 the purest, most digestible and palatable of the starches, and is devoid of 

 the unpleasant taste or flavour observed in potato starch raid in the 



