Take a pound of good wheat flour - unbolted, if possible; tie it up very tightly in a strong pudding-bag; place it in a saucepan of water and boil constantly for ten hours; when cold remove the cloth; cut away the soft outer covering of dough that has been formed, and reduce the hard, baked interior by grating.

In the yellowish-white powder obtained, almost all the starch has been converted into dextrin by the process of cooking, and the proportion of the nitrogenous principle to the calorifacient is as one to five - nearly the same as in human milk.

This acts both mechanically and as a food.