The philosophy of eating. By Albert J. Bellows, M.D.

34

BREAD-MAKING.

and though by producing sickness, and suffering, and
death, her reign is one of terror, especially in this
country and in Europe, it would not be desirable to
dethrone her; but it would be desirable to inaugurate
such a change as to make her reign a reign of. mercy.
The necessity and importance of a change in regard to
the use of white bread can be understood by considering a few facts.
It is estimated that ninety-five per cent. of bread used
in Boston is made of wheat flour, out of which has been
taken, by the process of grinding and bolting, all but
about five per cent. of its muscle-making and lifesupporting elements, so that fifteen barrels are required
to furnish as many of these elements as one barrel of
unbolted wheat meal. This will be fully comprehended by reference to the grain of split wheat, drawn
under a microscope, Fig. 6, and the proportions of
nitrates, and carbonates, and phosphates, delineated
by different colored lines in plates on a previous page.
Carbonates white, nitrates in lines, and phosphates in
darker lines. The nitrates and phosphates are inseparable by mechanical means, being bound together
by gluten, of which it is mostly composed, while the
carbonates, being mostly starch, which is granular,
and loosely adherent, is easily separated from the glutinous crust by the process of grinding and bolting.
In making superfine flour twenty-five per cent. of the
meal goes off in the siftings, of which fifteen per cent.
is of the nitrates and phosphates, and ten per cent. of
carbonates.