TRANSFORMATION  OF  STARCH  INTO  DEXTRINE. 
423 
if  they  had  been  preserved  in  sugar.  They  have  a  sweet  taste, 
and  an  odor  that  reminds  one  of  dried  fruit.  When  steeped  in 
water  they  regain  their  natural  dimensions,  and  are  then  seen 
to  be  5  or  6  tenths  of  an  inch  long  by  about  4  tenths  broad,  and 
to  consist  of  a  thick  and  fleshy  gibbous  tube,  bordered  with 
eight  small,  thin,  broadly  lanceolate  petals.  Attached  to  the 
interior  of  the  tube,  and  almost  sessile,  are  the  stamens  in  a 
double  row,  numbering  from  16  to  18. — D.  H. 
London  Pharm.  Journ.,  June,  1860. 
TRANSFORMATION  OF  STARCH  INTO  DEXTRINE  AND 
GLUCOSE. 
M.  Musculus  believes  (Comptes  Rendus,  t.  1.  p.  784,)  that  the 
formation  of  dextrine  and  glucose  is  rather  the  result  of  a  de- 
composition of  the  amyUceous  matter  than  the  simple  assimi- 
lation of  water.  His  reasons  for  supposing  so  are :  1.  That 
diastase  has  no  action  on  dextrine.  2.  That  dextrine  and  glu- 
cose appear  simultaneously  when  starch  is  acted  on  by  diastase, 
and  always  in  the  same  relation,  viz.  (1),  equivalent  of  glueose 
and  (2),  equivalents  of  dextrine.  3.  That  dilute  sulphuric  acid 
acts  at  first  in  the  same  way  as  diastase,  but  differs  in  this,  that 
the  reaction  continues  after  all  the  starch  has  disappeared,  only 
more  slowly.  If  glucose  be  formed  from  dextrine  by  the  assimi- 
lation of  water,  it  is  difficult  to  understand  why  its  formation 
should  be  more  rapid  while  some  unchanged  starch  remains  in 
the  liquor  than  when  only  dextrine  remains  :  the  contrary  ought 
to  be  the  case.  4.  The  simultaneous  appearance  of  dextrine 
and  glucose  takes  place  with  sulphuric  acid  as  well  as  diastase, 
and  the  proportions  are  the  same. 
The  practical  conclusions  which  the  author  draws  from  the 
facts  are  :  1.  That  in  the  manufacture  of  glucose,  if  we  regard 
the  action  as  finished  when  the  liquor  is  no  longer  blued  by 
tincture  of  iodine,  a  large  quantity  of  dextrine  remains  mixed 
with  the  sugar,  and  as  dextrine  does  not  ferment  with  yeast  a 
great  loss  is  caused  to  the  consumer.  The  manufacturers  ought 
therefore  to  employ  a  higher  temperature,  and  leave  the  acid 
and  starch  a  longer  time  in  contact.  2.  The  great  resistance 
which  dextrine  offers  to  the  action  of  dilute  sulphuric  acid 
