627 
of Edinburgh^ Session 1865 - 66 . 
these interior starch-cells — the remaining portions of the grain 
being separated in the shape of bran, and carrying away with them, 
at the same time, a proportion, generally five or six per cent., of 
the flour also. M. Mege Mouries found that the gluten contained 
in the grain was very unequally divided ; that while in the epi- 
dermis or the true bran it was least, it existed in larger quantity in 
the two next layers than it did in the starch-cells or flour of the 
interior. He therefore recommended that the grain should be 
merely decorticated previous to grinding, and that the layers of 
cells, so rich in gluten as the testa and embryo membrane, should 
be ground up with the starch cells, and form part of the flour used 
for bread or other food purposes. From an analysis which has 
been made by Dr Lyon Playfair, I found that by this process the 
true bran contains only 4’571 per cent, of gluten instead of 15-019 
by the ordinary process. The flour made by M. Mege Mouries’ 
process contains 15-672 per cent, of gluten, as compared with 9 ‘795 
in the ordinary flour. By merely taking off the outer covering of 
the grain, which is perfectly valueless as an article of food, instead 
of following the ordinary process, which takes off at least 14 per 
cent, of bran, fully 10 per cent, is added to the food portion of 
wheat, while the nutritive value of flour is increased by about 60 
per cent. This, upon the wheat consumption of the kingdom, — say 
20,000,000 of quarters, — is a matter of considerable importance. 
Another important advantage is secured by M. Mege Mouries’ 
process in regard to the storage and preservation of wheat. It ap- 
pears that the outer covering — the epidermis — absorbs moisture far 
more readily than the regular cellular tissue of the inner layers, 
and thus renders the grain more or less liable to mould and other 
injuries by keeping, unless great care be taken by occasionally 
shifting, &c. By the process of decortication this is entirely re- 
moved, and a hard, smooth surface given to the grain, from which 
every particle of deteriorating matter, in the shape of dirt, smut, 
&c., has been removed, diminishing its bulk, and leaving it ready 
for the miller whenever it may be required. The following is the 
method adopted for the preparation of the grain by M. Mege 
Mouries’ j)rocess : — 
“ Wheat is carried up to the topmost floor, then, passing through 
a screen or riddle, it falls through a hopper into a long narrow 
