FLOUR

the powdered and refined grain of wheat, rye, and other cereals, but particularly of wheat. ‘The ground oat-berry is called meal. The grinding of wheat by means of stones (pestle. and mortar) dates back to a very early period, and is known to have been the system employed several cent’s B.C. Later, stone rollers were employed, to be followed by iron ones, but present-day milling is done with chilled steel rollers. In modern f.-miiling the grain is carefully cleansed before it is ground, and in the proce of milling the outer husks and all the constituent parts of the wheat-berry are carefully separated. It was claimed that this exce ive refining proce removed from the f. highly nece ary nutritive properties, but public opinion will probably remain divided as to the use of highly refined white bread and whole-meal bread, in the latter of which the husk is ground up along with the kernel of the berry. Whole-meal bread, | it is claimed, is more nourishing than white bread, but, on the other hand, it is often found to disagree with delicate digestions, and in that case reliance upon white bread becomes a nece ity. Oats are more nourishing than wheat, because they contain a larger quantity of saline and fatty matter.