d hence the
latter only became available as a source of starch in 1840, when Mr.
Orlando Jones introduced his new process, for which he obtained a
patent. This process consisted in macerating the rice for about 20
hours in a dilute solution of caustic potash, containing about 200
grains of the alkali in every gallon; the liquor is then drawn off,
the rice dried, reduced to powder by grinding, then a second time
digested in a similar alkaline lye for 24 hours, repeatedly agitated.
After this it is allowed to settle, and well washed with pure cold
water. A prize medal was awarded for this rice starch at the Great
Exhibition.

Mr. S. Berger, of Bromley, also received a prize medal. He adopts a
different mode of preparation. In place of employing a dilute solution
of caustic potash to dissolve the gluten and other insoluble matters
of the grain, Mr. Berger uses a solution of carbonate of soda,
containing half a pound to the gallon. The rice is steeped, in cold
water for 48 hours, levigated in a suitable mill, and the pulp thus
formed is treated with the solution of carbonate of soda for 60 or 70
hours, being repeatedly stirred; it is then allowed to settle for some
hours, the alkaline liquor is drawn off, and the starch is washed and
purified. This process was patented by Mr. Berger, in December, 1841.
A third process was patented in February, 1842, by Mr. J. Colman; he
uses dilute muriatic acid for the same purpose as Messrs Jones and
Berger.

ARROWROOT, EAST AND WEST INDIAN.

The genuine arrowroot of commerce is the produce of the tuberous
rhizomata of _Maranta arundinacea_, a native of South America, and _M.
indica_, indigenous to the West Indies, but also cultivated in the
East. The best West Indian arrowroot comes from Bermuda. Its globules
are much smaller and less glistening than those of _Tous-les-mois_, or
potato starch.

The peculiar characteristics of the starch obtained from various
plants has been particularised and described already in the elaborate
investigation of the commercial yield and value of the
starch-producing plants. Amylaceous matter of a similar kind to
arrowroot is obtained from other species of Maranta, as from some
species of _Canna_, well known under the popular name of Indian shot,
from the similarity of their round black seeds.

The arrowroot plant (_M. arundinacea_) is a perennial, its root is
fleshy and creeping, and very full of knots and numerous long white
fibres. Arising from