Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 245

=FLECHTENSEIFE, Tetter Soap= (Dr Berkeley). Ordinary tar soap. (Hager.)

=FLECHTENWa.s.sER.= The wonderful wholesome mineral vegetable tetter-water (Dr A. von S.). Corrosive sublimate, 25 grammes; water, 180 grammes; benzoin tincture, 6 grammes. (Weber.)

=FLECKENWa.s.sER= (Bronner). Cleansing fluid (literally spot or stain water) for the removal of grease and dirt spots. Benzine only.

=Fleckenwa.s.ser, Englisches= (English cleansing fluid for removing acid, resin, wax, tar, and grease spots.) A mixture of 95 per cent. alcohol, 100 grammes; liq. ammon., sp. gr. 875, 30 grammes; benzine, 4 grammes.

(Artus.)

=FLEISCH-EXTRACT-LIQUEUR (Eau de Vie Alimenteuse--Extract of Meat Liqueur--Aqua Vitae Incarnativa)= (A. Hensel, Berlin). A beautiful red spicy liquor, leaving, when distilled, 32 per cent. of solid matter. This residue contains in 100 parts (besides anilin-red), resin and extractive (partly from ginger and partly from cinnamon), 3-1/4; sugar, 27-1/2; extract of meat, 1-1/4. (Hager.)

=Fleisch-Extract-Syrup (Syrup of Extract of Meat)= (Meyer, Berk).

Blood-serum made into a syrup with sugar. (Hager.)

=FLEISCHFASER-ZWIEBACK FuR HUNDE--Fibrin Dog Biscuits= (New York). Said to be made of pure meal, fibrin, dates, and other ingredients, and recommended as an excellent food for dogs. According to the prospectus its use makes all other foods unnecessary, as it gives the animals peculiar endurance, strong muscles, and sound bones. The directions for use say that it is most advantageously given in its unprepared form, as dry, heavy, hard cakes, and only in case it is refused should it be softened for a short time in cold water. According to the a.n.a.lysis performed in the laboratory of the Poppelsdorf Agricultural Academy the proportion of nitrogenous to non-nitrogenous ingredients is 1 to 370. Microscopic a.n.a.lysis detects the presence of dried fibrin, and also a considerable admixture of structureless hyaline cartilaginous matter. From this it follows that the nitrogen revealed by a.n.a.lysis does not all represent protein or fibrin, and that the proportion which arises from indigestible gelatinous matter will be of smaller value. (Dr E. Kern.)

=FLESH.= _Syn._ CARO, L. The muscular substances of animals; the softer, solid portions of the body, as distinguished from the bones and fluids.

See FIBRIN, FOOD, &c.

=Flesh-brush.= This simple instrument is used for exciting the cutaneous circulation. Those which have the bristles set on a leather back are esteemed the best. The flesh-glove or hair flesh-rubber is a useful modification of the common flesh-brush. Those manufactured by Messrs Savory and Moore, in imitation of the Indian kheesah or mitten, are superior to all others. In the absence of both flesh-brush and glove, a rough towel wound round the hand is no bad subst.i.tute. See FRICTION.

=FLIEGENPAPIER, GIFTFREIES--Non-Poisonous Fly Papers= (Bergmann & Co., Rochlitz). Contains abundance of a.r.s.enious acid. (Hager.)

=FLIEGENPULVER--Fly Powder= (Baumann, now Markel, Austria). 93 to 94 per cent. of dry sandy ferruginous clay (ordinary loam) saturated with a decoction of some bitter substance, as qua.s.sia or gentian. (Hager.)

=FLIES.= See FLY.

=FLIP.= See EGG FLIP.

=FLoHEMITTEL--Flea Powder= (Leipsic). Powdered soap. (Fischer.)

=FLoHEWa.s.sER--Flea Water= (Koch, veterinary surgeon, Vienna). 7 brandy, 1 benzine, 1 black soap. (Hager.)

=FLORILINE--Vegetable Tooth Paste= made by John Yates (Albin Muller, Brunn). It is contained in a quadrangular china pot, and is a red, dry, rather hard ma.s.s made from prepared chalk, 20 grammes; starch powder, 10 grammes; glycerin, 8 grammes; pellitory tincture, 3 grammes; peppermint oil, 10 drops; and water q. s., coloured with Florentine lac. (Hager.)

=FLOUN'DER.= A flat fish, very like the plaice, but smaller, and of more obscure colour. It is very common about the British coast, and is found in the Northern, Baltic, and Mediterranean seas. Its flesh is very wholesome.

=FLOUR.= _Syn._ FARINA, L. The finely ground and 'dressed' meal of bread corn, and of the seeds of some of the leguminosae. That known specifically as 'flour' in this country is obtained from spring varieties of _Tritic.u.m vulgare_ (the common wheat).

_Var., &c._ Of varieties of flour there are several, depending chiefly on the amount of bran which they contain, and the relative fineness of the sieves through which they are pa.s.sed:--

FINE WHEAT FLOUR, PASTRY FLOUR; FARINA, F. TRITICI, F. SEMINIS TRITICI.

The finest flour, obtained from the meal produced in the first grinding of wheat between sharp stones, by means of a sieve of 64 wires to the inch.

Used for pastry.

MIDDLINGS. The remainder of the flour of the first grinding, obtained by means of a slightly coa.r.s.er sieve. Used for making household bread, but is mostly reground for the next variety.

SECONDS. The finest part of the flour, obtained by regrinding 'middlings'

between blunt stones. Used by the bakers for their finest wheaten bread.

POLLARD. The coa.r.s.e flour, from which the seconds has been sifted. Used for making sea biscuits and gingerbread, and to fatten poultry and hogs.

COUNTRY HOUSEHOLD FLOUR. This is usually ground only once, and sifted to 4/5ths of the weight of the wheat.

AMMUNITION FLOUR is ground and sifted to nearly 5/6ths the weight of the wheat.

According to Mr Acc.u.m, thirty-two pecks of wheat in the London mills yield, of flour 38-1/2 parts; pollard, 8 parts; and bran (_furfur tritici_), 12 parts; the bulk of the wheat being doubled by grinding.

According to Mr Hard, miller, of Dartford, quoted by Dr Pereira, the wheat having been ground in the usual way, is allowed to remain in the state of meal for some time before 'dressing,' which removes the heat caused by the process, and enables the miller to obtain more flour, and the baker a better quality, than if 'dressed' immediately it is ground.

"The process of dressing is by a wire cylinder containing a certain number of sheets of different texture or fineness, which cylinder contains eight hair brushes attached to a spindle pa.s.sing through the centre of the cylinder, and laid out so as to gently touch the wire. This cylinder is fed by a 'shoe' with the meal; then the 'flour' and 'offal,' after pa.s.sing through the wire in this way, are divided by wooden part.i.tions fixed close to the outside of the cylinder." "The produce of the wheat-meal dressed through the wire machine consists of--1, Flour;--2, White Stuff, or Boxings, or Sharps;--3, Fine Pollard;--4, Coa.r.s.e Pollard, or Horse Pollard;--5, Bran. The 2nd product (_i. e._ the white stuff) is then submitted to another 'dressing' through a fine cloth machine, and produces--1, Fine Middlings, for biscuits;--2, Toppings, or Specks;--3, Dustings;--4, Best Pollard, Turkey Middlings, or Coa.r.s.e Middlings.

TABLE _of the Produce of One Quarter of Wheat_ (= 504 lbs.) By MR HARD.

Flour 392 lbs.

Biscuit or fine middlings 10 "

Toppings or specks 8 "

Best pollard, Turkey p., or twenty-penny 15 "

Fine pollard 18 "

Bran and coa.r.s.e pollard 50 "

Loss by evaporation and waste 11 "

---- 504 "

_a.n.a.lysis of Flour._ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PELIGOT. w.a.n.kLYN. Mean of 14 LETHEBY. PAYEN. Fine Wheaten a.n.a.lyses. Flour. --------------------------------+----------+----------+---------+------------ Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Water 140 150 1422 165 Fat 12 20 125 12 Nitrogenous matters, gluten, &c. 128 108 1445 120 Ditto, soluble in water 18 -- -- -- Non-nitrogenised substances, dextrin, sugar, &c. 72 } Starch 597 } 705 6848 696 Cellulose 17 } Salts (ash) 16 17 16 074 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

According to Vauquelin, French wheat flour contains about 10% of water, 11% of gluten, 71% of starch, 5% of sugar, and 3% of gum; and the water of the dough amounts to about 50%. The quant.i.ty of the bran in wheat ranges under 2%.

_Pur._ This article of food is very frequently adulterated both by the miller and the baker, as has been before alluded to in the article on bread. The princ.i.p.al physical characteristics of wheat flour of good quality are the following--it has a dull white colour, somewhat inclining to yellow;--it exhibits no trace of bran, even when pressed smooth with the hand, or with a polished surface;--its cohesiveness is so great that, on being squeezed in the hand, the lump is some time before it loses its shape;--it has a h.o.m.ogeneous appearance, and does not lose more than from 6% to 12% by being carefully dried in a stove. The smaller the loss in this way the finer is the quality, other matters being equal, and the more economical in use.[313] (See _below_.)

[Footnote 313: See also BREAD, _Adult_, and _Exam_.]

_Tests._ 1. Solution of ammonia turns pure wheat flour yellow; but if any other corn has been ground with it, pale brown; or if peas or beans have been ground with it, a still darker brown.

2. Solution of pota.s.sa, containing about 12% of caustic alkali, dissolves pure wheat-flour almost completely; but when it is adulterated with the flour of the leguminous seeds (beans, peas, &c.), the cellulosae of these substances remains undissolved, and its hexagonal tissue is readily identified under the microscope. Mineral substances (chalk, plaster of Paris, bone dust, &c.) are also insoluble in this test, and appear as a heavy white sediment.

3. Boiling water poured on the sample causes the evolution of the peculiar odour of pea or bean flour when these substances are present. Bread made with such flour evolves a like odour on being toasted.

4. Pure hydrochloric acid poured on potato flour, or on wheat flour adulterated with it, develops a smell of rushes; it also dissolves starch, but changes the colour of pure wheat-flour to a deep violet.

5. Nitric acid turns wheat flour of an orange-yellow colour, but forms a stiff and tenacious jelly with potato fecula, the colour of which it does not alter.

6. A portion of the suspected sample submitted to dry distillation in a stoneware retort, and the distillate collected in a receiver containing a little water, the latter is found to remain perfectly neutral if the wheat flour is pure, but acquires a distinctly alkaline reaction when beans, pulse, or pea meal is present. (Rodrigues.)

7. Triturate 300 gr. of the sample with an equal weight of clean siliceous sand, and after five minutes form a h.o.m.ogeneous paste with water; afterwards further adding more water, until about 2 fl. oz. have been used. The filtered liquid, treated with an equal quant.i.ty of a strong and pure aqueous solution of iodine, develops a pink colour, which gradually disappears when the specimen examined consists of pure wheat flour; but a.s.sumes a deep-purple colour, which disappears much more slowly, if the flour is adulterated with even 10% of fecula or potato flour. This test succeeds, not only with flour and meal, but also with macaroni, vermicelli, &c. (M. Chevallier.)

8. The milky liquid holding the starch in suspension (see a.n.a.l., page 749) is poured into a small conical gla.s.s, and left at rest for some time; the clear liquid is then decanted, and any remaining water carefully sucked up with a pipette, and the whole left for some time, in order that the deposit may harden. The upper gray layer is next removed with a teaspoon, and the harder and stiffer second layer left undisturbed until it becomes quite solid by drying. When in this state, it may be upset in the form of a cone, upon a lump of dry plaster. The fecula or potato starch (if any is present), being heavier than that of wheat, forms the apex of the cone, and its quant.i.ty may be estimated in the following manner:--The operator cuts from the apex of the little cone above mentioned a slice, which he triturates only for a short time in an agate mortar (one of gla.s.s, or porcelain, or wedgwood-ware, will not do), and he tests that with aqueous solution of iodine. If it turns blue, it is fecula. Another slice is treated in the same manner, until the operator comes to the wheat starch, which, in the present instance, is not affected by the aqueous solution of iodine. This difference of behaviour of the two species of starch with iodine is due to the friction of the pestle and mortar, which is sufficient to divide or tear the envelopes of the particles of the potato starch, which then become blue when treated by solution of iodine. The particles of wheat starch, on the contrary, are not disaggregated by that treatment, and being therefore protected by their envelope, are not acted upon by the solution of iodine, or, at most, a.s.sume only a brown tinge.

(M. Robine.)