POTATO STARCH. 
225 
"Bright's universal sanative breakfast beverage is a mix- 
ture of potato-starch and chocolate. To the latter substance 
it owes its color, odor, and flavor. When prepared for use, 
with either water or milk, it forms a thickish liquid." 
Potato-starch is sometimes used to adulterate West Indian 
arrow-root; and an imitation sago is sometimes prepared with 
it. It is also extensively used in England in the manufac- 
ture of potato-sugar, which is employed by fraudulent gro- 
cers for mixing with the common brown cane sugar. 
" In reference to the detection of potato-starch," Dr. P. 
remarks, "it may be readily distinguished by the naked eye 
of an experienced person from all other commercial feculas, 
tousles mois alone excepted. It presents a remarkable glis- 
tening, satiny, pearly, or sparkling appearance, somewhat 
like that of a number of minutely divided globules of mer- 
cury. Though it is difficult to convey an accurate and pre- 
cise idea of this property by words, yet it is one which is 
instantly recognized when a sample of this starch is atten- 
tively examined. It arises from the large size of the amy- 
laceous grains. Moreover, potato-starch wants that dull or 
dead white appearance presented by West Indian arrow- 
root. It gives the idea of the particles being slightly trans- 
lucent. 
" In the large size and slight translucency of its grains, 
tous les mois agrees with potato-starch; indeed, they are 
somewhat larger than those of the latter starch. Hence, 
therefore, the naked eye may confound these two feculas. 
"The microscope is the most important agent in distin- 
guishing the different starches from each other; and by it 
we can readily detect potato-starch. We recognize it by 
the size, shape, and structure of its grains. Though the 
size varies somewhat, yet on the average it exceeds that of 
other commercial starches, always excepting tous les mois, 
whose grains, as I have already stated, are rather larger. I 
have, however, occasionally met with samples of potato- 
starch, whose grains nearly equalled in size those of tous les 
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