74 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
No. 5.— Remarks on the ‘‘ Popping” of Indian Corn. By 
F. H. Srorer, Professor of Agricultural Chemistry. 
AN opinion has long been prevalent, dependent on I know not 
whose authority, that the ‘‘ popping” of Indian corn is in some 
way connected with the presence of oil in the grain. ‘Thus, in 
the article on Indian corn in Appleton’s New American Cyclo- 
paedia,* we are told that *‘ Pop-corn abounds in oil. . . . Itis 
this closer and albuminous-oily structure in some kinds of maize 
which renders the kernel so compact and hard, and which on 
bursting with heat causes the popping or inversion of the contents 
of the grain.” So, too, in the definition of the word pop-corn 
in the Century Dictionary,ft it is said that ‘‘ Pop-corn abounds 
in oil, the expansion of which under heat causes an explosion, in 
which the contents of the kernel become puffed out, nearly hiding 
the seed-coat, and assuming a pure white color.” 
This idea as to the sionificance of oil in the act of popping is 
in itself so palpably improbable that I have often wished to 
subject it to the test of experiment. Opportunity to do so pre- 
sented itself in the autumn of 1902, when my assistant, Mr. F. T. 
Dillingham, was good enough to carry out under my eye a few 
simple experiments. The purpose of these trials was, first, to 
disprove the notion that popping is due to the presence of oil in 
the grain, and, second, to determine whether popped corn con- 
tains any more soluble starch, or other form of dextrin, than is 
contained in the original grain. 
To remove the oil, unbroken grains of unpopped corn were 
leached with ether and were subsequently allowed to dry slowly 
in the air. After five days’ drying they were popped successfully 
on being heated, though it appeared that time enough should be 
allowed to make the drying thorough. No proper success was 
had on trying to pop leached kernels that had lain in the air no 
longer than a day or two after having been removed from the 
ether. 
With regard to the quantity of matters soluble in water that 
were contained in them, no great difference was noticed between 
popped and unpopped corn, though the popped yielded rather 
* Edition of 1860, volume XI, page 88, column 2. 
+ Edition of 1890, volume IV, page 4620. 
