Am.  Jour.  Pharm.\ 
October,  1894.  J 
The  Grain  Weight. 
475 
Comparison  of  Different  Wheats. — We  have  thus  (if  no  subsequent 
change  was  made)  a  well-established  standard  concerning  the  weight 
of  wheat  600  years  ago,  and  an  average  of  the  wheat  of  the  world 
now  should  show  us  the  effect  that  time  and  cultivation  have  had 
on  the  size  of  the  fruit.  It  is  not  enough  for  this  purpose  to  take 
the  product  of  a  single  state,  or  of  one  country;  a  broad  average 
should  be  made  of  the  wheats  of  the  world.  This  seed,  like  other 
plants,  is  affected  by  drought  and  climatic  influences,  and  yet,  an' 
average  of  the  wheat  products  of  the  principal  wheat-yielding  lands 
of  civilization  might  give  us  a  record  that  may  be  accepted  as  indi- 
cating either  that  the  grain,  so  far  as  size  is  concerned,  is  being 
improved  or  is  retrograding.  The  English  grain  weight  has  proba- 
bly remained  intact  since  its  second  standardization,*  and  if  any 
change  has  occurred,  it  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the  weight  of  the 
seed  of  the  wheat.  According  to  the  statute  of  King  Henry  III 
(already  cited),  the  standard  grains  are  "well  dried,"  and  in  the 
determinations  made  herein,  well-dried  is  taken  to  have  meant  air- 
dried.  We  are  told  by  the  Century  Dictionary  that  such  countries 
as  yield  a  surplus  of  wheat  are  the  United  States,  Canada,  Russia, 
Hungary,  India,  Australia,  Egypt,  Roumania  and  Turkey.  In  addi- 
tion to  specimens  from  most  of  these  countries,  I  procured  also 
specimens  from  New  Zealand,  England  and  several  South  American 
States.  These  specimens  are  taken  from  commercial  lots,  and  are 
averages  of  such  as  are  sold  in  large  amounts  in  the  grain  market, 
all  of  crop  1 893,-f-  except  Rosario,  1892. 
Here  1  may  add  that  most  of  the  American  as  well  as  the  foreign 
specimens  were  procured  by  Messrs.  Smith,  Hammond  &  Co.,  of 
Baltimore,  to  whom  I  was  introduced  through  the  courtesy  of 
Messrs.  Gale  Bros.,  Cincinnati,  O.,  and  that  Mr.  Albert  McCullough, 
of  the  firm  of  J.  M.  McCullough's  Sons,  of  Cincinnati,  cabled  to 
London  for  Egyptian  wheat,!  and  collected  the  Ohio  and  Wisconsin 
samples.  To  these  gentlemen  my  thanks  are  herein  extended ;  but 
for  their  aid  the  research  would  have  been  impracticable. 
*  "  Fortunately,  one  unit  common  to  troy,  apothecaries'  and  avoirdupois 
weight  has  been  saved — namely,  the  grain" — Remington' 's  Pharmacy \  p.  jf. 
f  Weighings  were  made  the  second  week  in  August,  1894.  A  loss  of  677  per 
cent,  resulted  in  dry  wheat  out  of  the  harvest  field  after  five  days'  exposure  to 
a  temperature  of  1380  F.  in  a  drying-room. 
X  The  Egyptian  wheat  did  not  come  to  hand  in  time  to  be  included  in  this 
paper. 
