limentary substance. He observes that "the
difficulty of keeping the bran in flour intended for the
manufacture of bread of good quality appears to result much less
from the presence of the cellulose (one of the constituents of
woody matter) contained in wheat than that of the fatty matter.
This is found in the bran in a quantity at least triple of that
which remains in the flour, and the bolting separates it from the
ground wheat not less usefully than the cellulose itself."[31] M.
Millon objects entirely to the views of M. Peligot on this point,
and states some facts which are especially worthy of
consideration. He asserts that, according to the views of the
last named chemist, the separation at most of one part of fatty
matter sacrifices fifteen, twenty, and even twenty-five per cent.
of substances which are of the highest nutritive value. This
abstracts from wheat, for the whole amount raised in France, the
enormous sum of about two hundred millions of pounds annually.

It seems that in France the question whether the bolting of flour is
advantageous has always been decided in the most arbitrary manner.
An ordinance of Louis XIV., issued in 1658, prohibited, under a very
heavy penalty, the regrinding of the bran and its mixture with the
flour; this, with the mode of grinding then in use, caused a loss of
more than forty per cent.--(Comptes Rendus, February 19th, 1849.)

In large cities and elsewhere, there seems for some time to have
been a growing prejudice against the use of brown bread; and it is
said that now nearly all the peasantry of France bolt their flour.
The increase of this practice, according to M. Millon, threatens
the nation with an annual loss of from two to three hundred millions
of francs. If the bran was entirely valueless, there would be a loss
of more than one million a day.

It is quite difficult to determine the precise amount of bran which
may have been removed from wheat, for various samples contain such a
different proportion of bran that in the one case a removal of ten
per cent, leaves more bran in the flour than a bolting of five per
cent. in another.

The following is an analysis of bran by M. Millon; the sample being
a soft French wheat grown in 1848:--

Starch, dextrine and sugar 53.00
Suga