DEXTRINE

is a matter of a gummy appearance into which the interior substance of the molecules of starch are converted, through the influence of diastase or acids. It derives its name from the circumstance that it turns, more than any other body, the plane of polarization to the right hand. It is white, insipid, without smell, transparent in thin plates, friable, with a gla y fracture when well dried. It is not altered by the heat of boiling water, but at 280° F. it becomes brown, and acquires the flavour of toasted bread. It is not coloured by iodine, like starch, it does not form muric acid with the nitric, as common gum does, and it is transformed into grape sugar, when heated along with dilute sulphuric acid or diastase. Dextrine is much employed by the French pastrycooks and confectioners; it is a good substitute for gum arabic in medicine. For the conversion of potato or other starch into dextrine, by the action of diastase , see this article.