Page:Indian Medicinal Plants (Text Part 2).djvu/612

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INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS


Regarding the use of rice in the treatment of Diabetes, see my brochure " Diabetes and its Dietetic Treatment," (8th Edition, 1917). B. D. B.

During the expedition to Egypt the soldiers were fed almost exclusively on rice and their health suffered in no way. It transports easily, and keeps well as shown by analyses after 12 years, and is therefore an advantageous food material in times of peace and war.

Decorticated rices from the principal localities, Carolina, India, Java, Japan, Piedmont, Saigon (Cochin-China), show a percentage composition varying between the extremes quoted below : —

Header text Water. Proteids. Fat. Amyloids. Fibre. Ash.
Maximum ... 16.00 8.82 .75 81.35 .42 .58
Minimum ... 10.20 5.50 .15 75.60 .18 .42

Crude rices contain a higher proportion of nitrogenous and fatty substances and ash, the limits being as follows : —

Water. Proteids. Fat. Amyloids. Fibre. Ash.
Maximum ... 13.30 9.05 2.50 75.60 2.38 2.20
Minimum ... 11.20 6.18 1.85 78.85 .03 1.20

Balland found that there was no connection between the size of the grain and the proportion of nitrogenous matter, and demonstrated from his analyses that rice has more value as a food than is commonly supposed.

The proteins or albuminoids of rice have recently been studied by O. Rosenheim and S. Kajuria. These chemists find 7 per cent, of total protein present in rice, of which 0.14 is a globulin, 0.04 an albumin, and the remainder a protein which like the glutenin of wheat is soluble in dilute alkali. The name oryzegenin is suggested for it.

Unmilled rice contains between 2 and 3 per cent, of oil, but in the process of polishing most of this oil is removed with the aleurone layer. The bran from rice mills in Rangoon and elsewhere contains a considerable amount of oil which frequently amounts to 20 per cent., and for this purpose is exported from India to Europe for supplying a material in soap manufacture. On account of the presence of an enzyme in the bran, the oil extracted has usually a high acidity. A recent analysis of rice oil has been published by M. Tsujimoto (1911) recording the following physical and the chemical characters : Specific gravity at 15°. 0.927 ; acid value, 34.75 ; saponification