290 ON THE MANUFACTURE OP ARTIFICIAL GUM. 
tionable. The artificial gum thus prepared is easily dis- 
solved, and makes a very clear solution ; over dextrine in 
the state of powder, it possesses the advantage of being 
more readily packed ; and over liquid gum, the advantage 
of not fermenting. 
The experiments which I have made with the various 
products of starch have led me to other inquiries upon 
analogous substances, and principally upon ligneous fibre 
and cellular tissue, which, as is well known, according to the 
experiments of M. Payen, are of the same composition as 
starch. At a future meeting 1 hope to communicate to the 
Society the results of some experiments upon the steeping 
of textile fibres, by means of processes analogous to those 
employed in manufacturing dextrine or sugar. 
I will conclude by some observations upon an improve- 
ment which maybe introduced in the manufacture of starch 
by washing. In the manufactory at Habertonford Mills, 
in the county of Devon, where M. Saint Etienne is superin- 
tendent, he is occupied in the production of starch by M. 
E. Martin's process, which consists, as is well known, in 
washing the paste obtained by means of wheaten flour 
under the action of a current of water and a mechanical 
softener. For this process it is essential that flour may be 
easily procured. Not having this facility, M. Saint Etienne 
conceived the idea of steeping the grain whole in water for 
two or three days, and then crushing it between rollers ; and 
thus forming the paste. But this method was attended 
with a serious evil, viz. that the starch was not deposited, 
especially in summer. M. Saint Etienne attributed this to 
the quality of the water, but 1 convinced him that it was 
owing to the fermentation and partial germination of the 
corn, which being so long in contact with the water formed 
successively diastase and dextrine, and thus rendered the 
water which was used for washing the starch viscous. At 
my suggestion, he constructed an apparatus of wood, lined 
with lead, and having filled it three parts full of corn, he 
