to be withheld from the pigs, and
consume it by man in some way alone? This would involve no change in the
practice of our millers, and little in the habits and bread of the great
mass of the population.

But such a course, if possible, would not bring us to the economical end
we wish to attain. Suppose it could be made palatable and eaten by man,
little comparative saving would be effected.

First, because, when eaten alone, the fine flour will not go so far as
when mixed with a certain proportion of bran: that is to say,--a given
weight of fine flour will produce an increased nutritive effect when
mixed with the bran: greater than is due to the constituents of the bran
taken alone. The mixture of the two in reality increases the virtues of
both. Again, if eaten alone, bran would prove too difficult, and
therefore slow of digestion in most stomachs. Much would thus pass,
unexhausted of its nutritive matter, through the alimentary canal, as
whole oats often do through that of horses, and thus a considerable
waste would ensue.

And further, supposing all to be dissolved in the stomach, there would
still, of necessity, be a waste of material, since the bran actually
contains a larger proportion of bone material and saline matter compared
with its other ingredients, than the body, in its natural healthy state,
can make use of. All this excess must, therefore, be rejected by the
body, and, as nutritive matter, for the time be wasted.

Lastly, it is doubtful if bran alone contains enough of starch, or of
any substitute for it, to meet the other demands of the human system. I
have not spoken of the use of the starch of the grain in the preceding
observations, because, as both whole meal and fine flour contain a
sufficient quantity of it to supply the wants of the living animal, it
was unnecessary to the main object of this paper. But with bran the case
is different. It is doubtful if the purposes of the starch could be
fully, and with sufficient speed, fulfilled by the ingredients which, in
the bran, take the place of starch in the flour. The cellular fibre or
woody matter, of which it contains a considerable proportion, is too
slowly soluble in the stomachs of ordinary men. While, therefore, much
of it would pass through the body undigested, it would require to be
eaten in far larger proportions than its composition indicates, if the
body was to be supported, and thus a further waste would be incurred.

On the whole, t