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The albuminous matter approaching nearest to cerealine is the diastase, for it is only a transformation of the cerealine during the germination, the proof of which may be had in analyzing the embryous membrane, which shows more diastase and less cerealine in proportion to the advancement of the germination: it differs, however, from the diastase by the action of heat, alcohol, etc.
It should then be reduced in a small coffee mill, the flour and middlings separated by sifting and the bran repassed through a machine that will crush it without breaking it; then dress it again, and repeat the operation six times at least. The bran now obtained is composed of the embryous membrane, a little flour adhering to it, and some traces of the teguments Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Now, as we know all the parts constituting the berry of wheat, it will be easy to explain the phenomena of panification, and to conclude from the present moment that it is not indifferent to reject from the bread this embryous membrane where the agents of digestion are found, viz., the phosphoric bodies and the phosphate of chalk.
CEREALINE. The cells composing the embryous membrane contain, as already stated, the cerealine, but after the germination they contain cerealine and diastase, that is to say, a portion of the cerealine changed into diastase, with which it has the greatest analogy. It is known how difficult it is to isolate and study albuminous substances.
There exists, in reality, I repeat, a resemblance between the embryous membrane and the yeast; they have the same immediate composition; they are destroyed by the same poisons, deadened by the same temperatures, annihilated by the same agents, propagated in an analogous manner, and it might be said that the organic tissues endowed with life are only an agglomeration of fixed cells of ferments.
It is seen that in every case the cerealine and the embryous membrane act together, and in an analogous manner; we shall shortly examine their effects on the digestion and in the phenomena of panification. PHOSPHATE OF CALCIUM. Mr. Payen was the first to make the observation that the greatest amount of phosphate of chalk is found in the teguments adjoining the farinaceous or floury mass.
This action is due to the presence of the embryous membrane, for after four consecutive operations it still preserves its original weight. As regards the remains of the other segments, they have no influence on this phenomenon, for the coating Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5, separated by the water and friction, have no action whatever on the diluted starch.
Various causes increase or decrease the action of this tissue, but it may be said in general that all the agents that kill the embryous membrane will also kill the cerealine. This was the reason why I at first attributed the production of dark bread exclusively to the latter ferment, but it was easy to observe that during the baking, decompositions resulted at over 158 deg.
I make use of these expressions only to explain more clearly the phenomena I have to speak of, for it is our duty to bear in mind that the real ferments only act after a longer or shorter period of development, while, on the other hand, the effects through presence are immediate. I now return to the embryous membrane.
Besides its action through its presence, which is immediate, the embryous membrane may also act as a ferment, active only after a development, varying in duration according to the conditions of temperature and the presence or absence of ferments in acting.
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