laboratory, in the distillation of articles that are apt to spurt over into the neck of the common retort, and thus vitiate the product.
ALEUROM′ETER. Syn. Aleuromètre, Fr. An instrument for determining the quantity and quality of gluten in wheat-flour, invented by M. Boland. It essentially consists of a hollow copper cylinder, about 6 inches long, and 3⁄4 of an inch internal diameter. This tube has two principal parts; the one, about 2 inches long, is closed at the lower end, forming a kind of cup, into which the gluten is placed; it screws into the remainder of the cylinder. The cup being charged with a sample of gluten, and the upper part of the cylinder being screwed on, it is exposed in an oven, or (preferably) in an oil bath, to a temperature of 350 to 380° Fahr.[17] From the length of the tube the gluten occupies in swelling, as measured by a graduated scale, its quality is determined. The ‘crude gluten’ of good wheat-flour augments to four or five times its original volume, when thus treated; but that from bad flour does not swell, becomes viscid and semi-fluid, and generally gives off a disagreeable odour; whilst that of good flour merely suggests the smell of hot and highly baked bread.
[17] Mr Mitchell recommends the heat to be 420°; whilst Dr Masprett gives 284° Fahr. as the proper temperature; but of these the first is too high, and the other too low. About 210 gr. are also ordered to be taken for examination; but the exact quantity is immaterial. (See Mitchell’s ‘Falsification of Food.’)
AL′GA. (-gă). [L.] Sea-weed. A common name of grass-wrack (‘zostera marina’—Linn.), though not one of the algæ.
AL′GÆ. (ăl′-jē). [L. pl.] Syn. Al′gals; Algæ (DC.), Al′gales (Lindl.), L.; Algues, Varech, Fr.; Alge, Meergrass, Seegrass, Ger. Sea-weeds. In botany, an order of Thallogens living in water or very moist places, nourished throughout their whole surface by the medium in which they live, having no distinct axis of vegetation, and propagated by zoöspores, coloured spores, or tetraspores. Linnæus defines them—“plants, the roots, leaves, and stems of which are all in one.” The algæ consist either of simple vesicles lying in mucus, or of articulated filaments, or of lobed fronds formed of uniform cellular tissue. Those that vegetate in salt water are popularly called SEA-WEEDS (fu′ci, L.) and LA′VER (ulvæ, L.); those found in fresh water CONFER′VÆ. One of their divisions (the Zoöspermeæ) comprehends the lowest known forms of vegetable life, being merely adhering cells, emitting, at maturity, seeds or sporules having a distinct animal motion. In Oscillatorias, the whole plant twists and writhes spontaneously; and Zymenas actually copulate like animals. Some of the Algæ possess great beauty. In the lower grades the colour is green; in the higher, red or purple.
Prop., Uses, &c. None of the Algæ are poisonous. Several are nutritious, emollient, and demulcent, from containing mucilage (carrageenin), starch, sugar (mannite), and a little albumen; and are hence used as esculents. The ash from the dried weed varies in different varieties from 9% to fully 25%; and contains variable quantities of potassa, soda, lime, magnesia, iron, manganese, and silica, with sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, chlorine, and a little iodine and bromine. (Schweitzer; Forchhammer; Gödechens.) Sea-weeds, their charcoal, and their ashes, have been long regarded as alterative and resolvent; and anti-phthisic virtues have been attributed to them by Laennec and others. They were formerly much given in scrofulous affections and glandular enlargements; but their use is now almost superseded by that of iodine and its preparations. Dr Stenhouse has proposed some of the algæ as furnishing an economical source of mannite. The sea algæ are used for manure; their ashes form KELP.
The following table, showing the results of several analyses of different kinds of algæ, and illustrating the very large amount of nitrogen contained in them, is from Mr Walter Blyth’s excellent dictionary of ‘Hygiene and Public Health.’
| Kinds of Algæ. | Water. | Dry matter. | Per cent. Nitrogen in dry matter. | Protein contained in dry matter. |
| Chondrus crispus, bleached, from Bewlay Evans. | 17·92 | 82·08 | 1·534 | 9·587 |
| Chondrus crispus, unbleached, Ballycastle. | 21·47 | 78·53 | 2·142 | 13·387 |
| Gigastina mamillosa, Ballycastle. | 21·55 | 78·45 | 2·198 | 13·737 |
| Chondrus crispus, bleached, second experiment. | 19·79 | 80·21 | 1·485 | 9·281 |
| Chondrus crispus, unbleached second experiment. | 19·96 | 80·04 | 2·510 | 15·687 |
| Laminaria digitata, or dulse tangle. | 21·38 | 78·62 | 1·588 | 9·925 |
| Rhodomenia palmata. | 16·56 | 83·44 | 3·465 | 21·656 |
| Porphyra laciniata. | 17·41 | 82·59 | 4·650 | 29·062 |
| Iridæa edulis. | 19·61 | 80·39 | 3·088 | 19·300 |
| Alaria esculenta. | 17·91 | 80·09 | 2·424 | 15·150 |
From the above, we learn the important fact that the sea-weeds found on our coasts are amongst the most nutritious of vegetable substances, and that they, when dry, are even richer in nitrogenous matter than either oatmeal or Indian corn in the same state. The following are the chief varieties of algæ which are used as food by the dwellers on our coasts as well as on the continent:—Porphyra laciniata and VULGARIS, called laver in England, stoke in Ireland, and slouk in Scotland. Chondrus crispus, called carrageen or Irish moss, and also pearl-moss, and sea-moss. Laminaria digitata, known as the sea-girdle in England, tangle in Scotland, and red-ware in the Orkneys; and Laminaria saccharina, Alaria esculenta, or bladder-lock, called also henware, and honey-ware by the Scotch. Ulva latissima or Green Laver—Rhodomenia palmata or dulse of Scotland. Under the name of “marine sauce” the Laver was esteemed a luxury in London, where it may now occasionally be met with in the shops of provision merchants. The employment of the Chondrus crispus or Carrageen in the form of an aliment for consumptive and weakly persons, would seem from the analysis of it given above to be fully justified. In preparing the algæ for food, they must be soaked in water to remove the saline matter, and where they are possessed of a bitter flavour this may be removed by adding a little carbonate of soda to the water. They should then be stewed in water or milk till they are tender. The best flavourings are pepper and vinegar. See Jelly.
ALGARO′BA. Syn. Ca′′rob-tree, St. John’s Bread; Cerato′nia Sil′iqua, Linn. A leguminous tree of southern Europe, Palestine, and part of Africa. Pods (ALGAROBA BEANS), used for food, and to improve the voice; they contain a sweetish, nutritious powder, and are supposed to have been the ‘locusts’ on which St. John fed in the wilderness; their decoction has been used as a pectoral in asthma and coughs.