Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
Oct.,  1883,  J 
Exty^ad  of  Malt. 
485 
sents  all  of  the  valuable  constituents  of  malt  if  the  menstruum  is 
adapted  to  their  extraction.  The  finished  fluid  extract  is  pleasant  to 
the  taste ;  it  is  rich  in  diastase. 
The  action  of  malt  on  warm  gelatinous  starch,  whereby  the  starch 
is  quickly  changed  into  dextrin  and  sugar,  has  been  familiar  since 
malt  liquors  have  been  used.  Payen  and  Persoz  (1833)  first  gave  us 
the  name  diastase,  which  they  applied  to  the  fermentation  principle  of 
germinating  malt.  This  substance  is  also  found  in  other  germinating 
seeds,  sprouting  potatoes,  etc.  This  diastase  is  now  generally  accepted 
as  the  desirable  principle  of  malt,  although  the  glucose  certainly  is 
useful  as  a  food,  and  to  us  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  other  sub- 
stances than  diastase  are  not  present  and  valuable. 
Extract  of  malt,  as  introduced  into  this  country,  and  which,  as  far 
as  we  can  learn,  was  first  officinal  in  the  German  Pharmacopoeia,  was 
made  by  bringing  a  decoction  of  malt  to  the  boiling  point,  and  then 
evaporating  it  to  the  consistence  of  a  thick  extract.  Such  in  substance 
was  the  process,  and  the  appearance  and  characteristics  of  the  prepara- 
tions sold  (Tiginally  in  our  country  under  this  name  induces  us  to 
believe  that  they  were  then  made  in  his  manner.  Until  one  year  ago 
we  do  not  know  that  in  this  country  particular  attention  had  been 
directed  to  the  comparison  of  values  of  malt  extracts  in  accordance 
with  their  powers  to  convert  gelatinized  starch  into  dextrin  and  glu- 
cose. The  perishable  nature  of  diastase  was  well  understood,  and  yet 
the  makers  of  malt  extracts  seemed  scarcely  to  consider  it  as  a  promi- 
nent factor. 
An  extract  of  malt  made  a  few  years  ago,  which  was  preserved  by 
us  in  an  original  bottle,  compared  with  one  of  recent  date  made  by  the 
same  manufacturer,  show  a  great  difference  in  appearance  and  in  pro- 
perties. This  preparation  is  that  of  one  of  the  largest  manufacturers. 
We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  makers  endeavor  to  produce 
an  unexceptionable  preparation,  and  we  feel  assured  that  they  were  as 
likely  as  any  to  have  been  among  the  first  to  consider  the  value  of 
diastase.  Hence  it  is  that  we  may  well  believe  Mr.  Cowdrey  to  have 
first  directed  prominent  attention  in  this  country  to  the  ease  with  which 
an  extract  of  malt  may  be  dispossessed  of  its  diastase.  In  his  paper  read 
before  the  Association  at  its  last  meeting  he  stated  that  a  temperature  of 
boiling  completely  destroyed  it.  This  statement  has  since  been  sup- 
ported by  our  experiments  and  by  those  of  others.  It  is  true,  also, 
that  a  temperature  of  from  160°  Fah.  to  180°  Fah.  Avill  destroy  dias- 
