144 
DISCOVERIES IN THE ARTS IN AMERICA. 
In each grain, when viewed under the mic" 
ropcope, the rays of light are strongly deviated 
at their entry and departure, so tliat only those 
reach the eye which pass through the interior 
of the globule, and hence, they appear as 
black balls with a white nucleus. They 
consist of vesicles, filled with a gummy mat- 
ter, which hardens in contact with air. In 
water of the temperature 122° the bladder is 
expanded, probably by the increase in vo- 
lume of the gum. In boiling waterit is ruptured 
and precipitated, while the gum (the dex- 
trine of Biot) dissolves in the water. Iodine 
colours the grains not by combining with 
them, but by merely attaching- itself to the 
exterior of the visicles. The form of the grain 
is not altered ; for, if inorganic salts capable 
of combining with the iodine, and forming 
hydriodates, are mixed with the starch, the 
colour disa'-'pears, and the starch remains 
colourless.'^ 
The nature of the diates which Payen and 
Persoz have found in starch, Raspail explains 
in this way: In the act of germination the 
grains of which starch consists increase by 
successive layers, beginning nearest the coty- 
ledon, while at the same time acetic acid is 
formed ; now this acid is formed ; now this 
acid dissolves gluten, and renders it equally 
soluble in water and alcohol. If the flour of 
germinating barley be macerated for an hour 
in pure water, the water will dissolve the 
gum, sugar, and gluten combined with the 
acetic acid. When exposed to heat a flocky 
precipitate will be produced by the disen- 
gagement of a portion of the acetic acid by 
heat, or of its saturation by some base, 
disengaged from the tissue by the temperature. 
Alcohol will increase the quantity of the preci- 
jritate. Raspail digested for a few minutes 
some wheatflour in acetic acid, at first concen- 
trated, and then diluted with a hundred times 
its weight in water. It was filtered, and the 
liquid poured into a solution of starch. A pre- 
cipitation of the tegumentary matter immedi- 
ately ensued. 
These facts are extremely important when 
considered in connexion with the process of 
malting, because they exhibit in a powerful 
manner the gieatness of the change which is 
produced by the slightest effort of Nature's 
operations, and because they enable us to com- 
prehend more readily the vaiiety of alterations 
which the elements of grain undergo in the 
same process. 
I'he process of malting consists essentially, 
1st., in producing a change in the constituents 
of grain by inducing germination ; and 2nd. 
in stopping the vegetation when it has been 
carried to a certain extent, by exposure to 
heat. 
RECENT AMERICAN PATENTS. 
fS elected from the Franklin Jaurnal for May, 
June and July last.) 
IMPROVED SUCTION PUMP, ELIJAH 
WHITON, MASSACHUSETTS.— The bar- 
i-els are to be made of steatite or soap stone ; 
+ Nouveau Systeme de Chimie organique 
fonde sur des methodes nouvelles d’observati- 
®n par F V. Raspail, 8vo, 1833, p. 3, 562. 
but the principal novelty is a contrivance 
for opening both the valves, and allowing 
the water to descend to prevent its freezing. 
There is to be a sort of spring catch on the 
upper surface of the valve of the lower box, 
which, when the pump handle is raised to 
the greatest possible height, hooks on to a 
ring, or other suitable appendage, on the 
lower end of the piston, whilst, at the same 
time, a projecting pin opens the valve in the 
piston, or bucket, and the water necessarily 
descends into the well, or reservoir. 
STRAW CUTTER, STEPHEN USTICK, 
PHILADELPHIA. — There is, we think, con- 
siderable novelty in certain parts of this 
machine, but it has the fault of too much 
complexity. The straw is to be contained in 
a trough, in the usual way, and is to be fed by 
fluted rollers of cast-iron. The knife stands 
horizontally, or nearly so, across a frame to 
which it is firmly attached. The lower edge of 
this frame rests upon ways, which from an 
inclined plane, and, consequently, as the 
frame slides, the knife descends with a draw- 
ing notion. To cause the frame to slide 
backAvards and forwards, there is a pitman, 
worked by a crank, on the shaft of a fly wheel 
in front of the machine. 
PRESERVING TIMBER FROM DE- 
CAY, FORREST SHEPHERD, FREDE- 
RICKSBURG. — The wood is first to be 
steamed, or boiled, to “ destroy the sap, or 
principle of decay,” and after this to be im- 
mersed in pyroligneous acid, until saturated. 
The patentee says that he also preserves 
waod from decay, and from destruction by 
■worms, by boiling it in a solution of sul- 
phate of iron, sulphate of alumine, and muri- 
ate of soda; or, in other words, in a solution 
of copperas, alum, and common salt, taking 
half an ounce of each to a gallon of water. 
We apprehend that the foregoing directions 
are altogether empirical, and that the paten- 
tee has been guided more by his hopes than 
by his expei'ience, which ought, in such a 
case, to be the result of long continued and 
varied observation. A patent was lately 
obtained for saturating timber with lime, 
which was to neutralize the acid supposed 
to be contained in it ; in the present instance, 
it is to be made to imbibe as much acid as 
possible ; these views are theoretical, or 
rather hypothetical, and must not be depended 
upon as guides. The present patentee’s 
specification makes no claim, otfers little or 
nothing that is new, and merely lays before 
us several recipes, from which to make a 
choice. The saline solutions named will do 
much towards rendering the wood incom- 
bustible, if they do not protect it against the 
attacks of the dry rot. 
HORSE-SHOE-MAKING MACHINE, 
E. E. RARRE, AND S. FIELD, OAKHAM. 
— In the lower part of a very stout orame of 
cast-iron, a horizontal spindle is to fun, in the 
manner of alathe mandrel ; one end of this 
spindle is to project through a collar, and to 
carry a kind of chuck, the face of xvhieh is to 
be gi’ooved, so as to form a mould, into which 
the heated iron is to be forced in order to 
convert it into shoes. This moulding face is 
