The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-07-09

ful purple. puts drop between the thin
pieces OF glass for his slide, tucks II under
the microscope, and there, swimming to-
gether. side by side. as purple az u sunset
In the land Of the midnight sun. are the
two types OF starch grains. hundreds OF
them, the one round. the \shcr angular.
the one having concentric rings Cn its In
terror. 11e other with lines as Jagged As
the greenish radiations from fractured
pane Of glass.
1t isn't question OF theory but one Of
very cold, hard fact. The scientific chem
list. especially the agricultural chemist.
such one an Prof. harry Snyder. of the
state experiment station of the College of
Agriculture In the University OF Mime
sofa, doesn't have TO depend upon any
theories. He takes a sample OF perfectly
pure wheat -four. tests it. finds the grains
OF starch Of the one type. He takes
sample OF pure corn starch -four, the
grains are all OF one type and wholly diff
ferent. He takes sample OF -four adul-
terated with corn starch and the two
types appear. There r. nothing left to
chance.
But the aduiterator knows his business.
He has invented machinery which SO rolls
and powders the corn starch that In some
cases the cell walls are broken down and
the corn starch blends into the wheat
-four starch. This would seem to be
blending beyond the power of the detec-
tive But II Ii not. Prof. Snyder has been
carrying on experiments which show that
ne will In the fufure-and. In fact has al
ready reached some decidedly satisfactory
resuits-be able to detect the fraud even
here, for by an iodine test he can tell the
dsnerence between a -four composed of
mixed corn and wheat starch grains even
after the cell walls OF the grains are
broken down. BY far the greater proper
tion OF all the aduiteration. however, Ii
quickly discernibie by the other test
A good many people have asked II aduI-
terated -four Is harmful. bur the answers
nave been, In many cases. quite vague
Just such indefinite answers as would be
apt to suit the man who is adulterating.
There are three main elements In the
wheat -four which makes IL the stan of
HE when II becomes bread-ash. for the
formation Of bone. starch, for the heat of
the body; gluten. or, In another word,
protein, for the production of muscle
The gluten Is made up OF two substances.
gluten and giiadin The gliadin binds the
flour together and makes II dough. the
gluten prevents the dough from becoming
soft and sticky. The gluten as a whole is
the life-giving part of the bread Now.
suppose the man who gets his corn for Ok
cents bushei puts 20 per cent. more
starch into his -four than he ought to.
corn starch. The man who eats bread
made from this aduiterated -four il robbed
OF " per cent of the ltfe-giving powers of
the bread. for the incoming starch drives
OUT the gluten. Very many Americans
use bread as the staple of their diet.
Prof. Snyder has demonstrated. by exper
iments upon men In feeding them for DAYS
at time certain lines of food 10 arrive
at what IL a reasonable ration for a man
at work, that man must have, where he
mas but little meat and not many vege-
tables. at least two pounds of bread per
day.
THIS must be honest bread. made from
the very best -four. containing no, lees
than IL per cent of gluten In case any
per cent. OF the gluten liz driven out. IA
that extent the mans dietary Is impaired,