t 
IIcTeditij and Sexuality. 457 
into sugar on the floor of the malt-house. The weight of the 
starch in a grain of wheat is about 140 times the weight of the germ. 
It is claimed for fromentine, therefore, that it possesses a high 
value as a food for infants, convalescents, and anaemic subjects. 
Much difficulty has arisen in the attempt to separate the wheat- 
germ in the process of milling, the structure being so small that it re- 
quires about eighty germs to weigh one grain Troy. M. Schweitzer 
has, however, devised an apparatus whereby the wheat-grain is 
passed through triangular grooves, split lengthwise, and the germ 
set free and removed by a brush in the process of bolting. Flour 
made from the split wheat-grains is not liable to become rancid, for 
the unstable essential oil which the germ contains is carried away in 
that structure. All attempts to remove this oil by chemical pro- 
cesses having failed, the problem has only recently been solved by 
mechanical means. Freed from the oil, the germs keep well ; they 
have the appearance of a grey powder of agreeable taste, not unlike 
that of the hazel-nut. Biscuits, pastry, <fcc, can be made from them 
without any addition of ordinary flour. It is hoped that it will be 
possible to advantageously utilise fromentine in place of the famous 
mucisse aux pois (pease-sausages) employed by French soldiers 
during active service. 
The production of fromentine is, however, very 1 restricted. 
From 1,0001b. of wheat it is hardly possible to obtain more than 
5 lb., yielding actually only 4 lb. of fromentine containing 3 - 5 lb. 
of assimilable material. But it is suggested that the germs of 
barley, oats, maize, &c, may be similarly utilised, for they likewise 
contain a large proportion of nitrogenous ingredients ; and it is 
possible that a new field of industrial research may be opened up 
in this direction. It is, in any case, interesting to learn that in 
fromentine, a substance of exclusively vegetable origin, there exists 
a percentage of nitrogen much higher than that contained in the 
best kinds of meat. 
HEREDITY AND SEXUALITY. 
In a series of articles entitled " Observations sur l'Heredite" com- 
municated to the Journal de I' Agriculture, M. Jean Kiener, of Wal- 
bach, Haute-Alsace, places on record a number of facts interesting 
to breeders. Hereditary influence he regards as controlled by two 
factors — the parents whose characters are transmitted to the off- 
spring, and the environment, which aids in moulding or modifying 
the latter. As an instance of the influence of environment is men- 
tioned the difficulty of replacing a local race or breed by an imported 
one. The imported stock becomes gradually modified, and assimi- 
lated in character to the local race, though by the exercise of care 
ftnd selection on the part of the breeder the priginal characteristics 
