160 Economy of Nitrogen . [April, 
serious quantity is consumed, without having undergone any 
previous chemical conversion, in the textile manufactures. 
It serves the sizer for communicating an artificial body to 
flimsy cotton goods, and is employed by the calico-printer in 
thickening his colours to the desired consistence. To give 
some idea of the extent of this waste we quote the following 
recipe from a recent work* : — 
For medium sizing, take— 
Flour, 3J sacks 
980 lbs. 
Tallow 
180 ,, 
Brown paraffin wax ... 
5 » 
White soap 
105 „ 
Soft soap 
15 » 
China clay 
• 
• 
• 
• 
4^ 
GO 
V* 
V® 
We have heard of 6J sacks of flour mentioned as the 
daily consumption in a single manufacturing establishment. 
From this we turn to the manufacture of starch. The 
demand for this substance in its ordinary commercial state 
is both varied and wide-spread. Its domestic use in 
stiffening linen, though most generally known, is probably 
not the most extensive application which it undergoes. 
Like flour, it serves for stiffening calico and for thickening 
colours, and is the raw material for the manufacture of so- 
called British gum. Of its functions in the sophistication 
of various articles of diet this is not the place to treat. 
Indeed none of the uses to which starch is put would in the 
least concern us were it obtainable, or at least were it ordi- 
narily obtained, without the misappropriation of gluten, and 
the consequent waste of combined nitrogen. Unfortunately 
the chief materials selected, for the sake of convenience or 
on account of the quality of the product, by the starch 
manufacturer rank among the most important articles of 
human food, such as wheat, rice, maize, the potato, &c. 
If the whole of the nitrogenous matters could be separated 
out undamaged and in a state fit for human food, or even 
for the support of cattle, there would be little reason to 
complain ; but no inconsiderable share of the gluten in the 
cereals undergoes fermentation, and much of its nitrogen is 
consequently wasted. Among the tasks which the indus- 
trial chemistry of the future will have to master are, there- 
fore, some of the following 
Thomson’s Sizing of Cotton Goods. 
