The figure represents the longitudinal cut of a grain of wheat; it was made
by taking, with the aid of the microscope and of photography, the drawing
of a large quantity of fragments, which, joined together at last, produced
the figure of the entire cut. These multiplied results were necessary to
appreciate the insertion of the teguments and their nature in every part
of the berry; in this long and difficult work I have been aided by the
co-operation of Mr. Bertsch, who, as is known, has discovered a means of
fixing rapidly by photography any image from the microscope. I must state,
in the first place, that even in 1837 Mr. Payen studied and published the
structure and the composition of a fragment of a grain of wheat; that
this learned chemist, whose authority in such matters is known, perfectly
described the envelopes or coverings, and indicated the presence of various
immediate principles (especially of azote, fatty and mineral substances
which fill up the range of contiguous cells between them and the periphery
of the perisperm, to the exclusion of the gluten and the starchy granules),
as well as to the mode of insertion of the granules of starch in the gluten
contained in the cells, with narrow divisions from the perisperm, and in
such a manner that up to the point of working indicated by the figure 1
this study was complete. However, I have been obliged to recommence it, to
study the special facts bearing on the alimentary question, and I must say
that all the results obtained by Mr. Bertsch, Mr. Trécul, and myself agree
with those given by Mr. Payen.