maltworm

[Eng. malt, and worm.] One who is over-fond of or indulges in malt or other liquor; a tippler. "Mad mustachio, purple-hued maltworms." --Shakesp.: Henry IV ., Pt . I. , ii. 1. mâlt-, a. [Eng. malt; -y.] Pertaining to or connected with malt. "In an auriferous and malty shower." -Dickens: Bleak House , ch. xl. mā-lăm ( pl . mā-la), subst . [Lat. neut. sing. of mat us =bad.] Evil. (1) Malum in se : An evil in itself. (2) Malum prohibitum : An act wrong because prohibited by law; a prohibited wrong. *măl'-ure, s. [Fr. malheur .] Misfortune, ill luck. "A woful wight full of malure ." Chaucer: Dreame. *mål-u-ri-næ, s . pl . [Mod. Lat. malur (us); Lat. fem. pl. adj. suff. -inæ.] Ornith.: Soft-tailed Warblers. According to Gray a sub-family of Sylviade, his first family of dentirostral inse orial birds, of which alurus (q. v.) is the typical genus. mal-u-rine, a . [Mod. Lat. malur (us); Eng. adj. suff.- ine .] Belonging to or having the characteristics of the sub-family Malurine (q.v.). "Perhaps the most curious example of the malurine birds is the beautiful little Emeu Wren." -Wood: Illus. Nat . Hist ., ii. 274. ma-lür'-ŭs, subst. [Gr. malos = soft, and our a =a C. As substantive: Chem. The proce by which barley, wheat, rye, or any other description of grain is converted into malt. It consists of four operations: viz., steeping, couching, flooring, and kiln-drying. The grain is steeped in water for from 30 to 50 hours, according to the temperature of the air, to enable it to take up enough moisture to soften it. The water is then drained from the cistern, and the softened grain thrown out into a rectangular ve el called a couch, where it remains until germination has fairly commenced. As this must not be allowed to proceed too rapidly, the grain is at the end of 20 or 24 hours thrown on the floor to a depth varying from 10 or 12 inches to 3 or 4 inches according to the season. On the floor the germination is regulated, the grain being turned every four or five hours, so that the whole of it may be brought under similar conditions as to heat, light, and moisture. When the acrospire has reached about three-fourths the length of the seed, the grain is then spread more thinly on the floor, that it may wither, and that germination may be arrested. At the end of five or six days after the grain has left the cistern, it is thrown on the kiln, where it is subjected to a gradual heat, not exceeding 60° for pale malt, 77° for amber malt, and 93° for brown or porter malt. The object in malting is not, as stated in many old works, o convert the starch of the grain into sugar, but to develop certain soluble albuminous bodies which po e the power of rapidly changing starch into sugar in presence of water at a temperature of 57° to 70°. Good barley yields about 80 per cent. by weight, or 109 per cent. by measure of dry malt. IMG:content-0874.png:[blocks in formation]