Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1837-07-19
ERMONF TELEGR APH.
From the Cultivator.
Nutritive principle OF Animal food con"
tained I'm Grain and Roots.

Nutritfve principle Of Animal food con.
tained I'm Grain and Roots.
This subject has engaged the attention
of chemists for some time M. Raspail
has at length announced, as the result of
numerous microscopic examinations and
experiments, that the nutrient matter of
! grain and roots is enveloped in shining,
white, smooth globules, quite insoluble in
cold water, even when immersed for
length of time that these gIobules con-
sist of an envelope, or shell, and kernel;
that the envelope is even insoluble in boil
ing water; that the kernel contained in
the globular envelope, consists of gum
like matter that when immersed in wa
ter at 1872 deg, the kernel expands, and
the envelope bursts at boiling heat, but is
never decomposed that in much water
the envelopes are detached, and subsIde-
but when the quantity is small, they be-
come mutually entangled, and form Jelly,
or the starch Of the laundry. The kerr
mel Of these globules is termed de1trtme.
The globuIes differ in size in different
grains and roots In wheat they are
$1,000 parts of an inch. In the potato
they are double this size; while in buck
wheat they are onl y 10000 part of an
inch in size.
During the investigations I'M. RaspalI,
the following facts seem to have been es-
tablisEed:
lst. That the gIobules constituting
meal, -four, and starch, whether contained
in grain or ROOTS, are incapable of afford,
ing any nourishment as animal food till
they are broken.
I'd. That no mechanical method OF
breaking or grinding is more than par
tally efficient.
Sd. That the most efficient methods OF
breaking the gIObuIes are by heat, by
fermentation, or by the chemical agency
of acids or alkalies.
4th. That the dextrine, which is the kerr
mel, as it were, of each gIobule, is alone
soluble, and therefore alone nutritivc.
5th That the shells of the globules,
when reduced to fragments by mechanism
or heat, are insoluble, and therefore moi
nutritlve
9th. That, though the fragments O
these shells are not nutriIive they are in
dispensable to digestion, either from thei1
distending the stomach and bowels, Of
from some other cause not understood, il
having been proved by experiment tia
concentrated nourshment, such as cane
sugar, essence Of beef or osmazome, can
not long sustain life without some mixture
of coarser anc less nutritve food.
9TH. That the economical preparation o
all food containing gIobules Of fecula
consists in perfectly breaking the shells
and rendering the dextrine contained ir
them soluble and digestble, while the
fragments Of the shells are at the same
time rendered more bulky, so as the more
readily to fill the stomach"
These facts sufficiently explain, VIVA
before was but imperfectly understood
why grain, meal and roots develope ad
dnional nutritive properties by being
cooked, or undergoing the process of fer
mentation and should encourage us t.
persist in the practice Of boiling or fer
mentlng our hog feed, if not the food 9
t our horses and neat cattle. The globuIes
it is true, may be partially broken, an
= the dextrine developed, by the heat and fer
mentatIon of the stomach, particularly il
animals possessed of powerful digestiv
organs; yet when they are in name
/, gorged with food, to hasten the fattenin,
process, there is good reason to believe
that without the aid of previous heat o
$ fermentation, much of the nutrient prop
l. critics OF grain and roots is wasted. Thi
e discovery goes, also, to demonstrate tn
utility of the practice, common in man
It states of the European continent, of feed
s ing their horses with bread, instead {
e meal or grain-the globuIes beng com
plete9y ruptured in the process of baking