r.EPORT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. Ill 



viously drawn that the conductivity of the hydrogen ion derived 

 from transference experiments is about 4 per cent, higher than that 

 obtained by conductivity measurements. This conductivity value 

 for the hydrogen ion was computed simply by multiplying the con- 

 ductivity of the chlorine ion, as determined by Kohlrausch from the 

 data for neutral salts, by the ratio of the transference numbers for 

 the cathion and anion of the acid. The experiments with nitric 

 acid were made in order to see whether independent transference 

 determinations with a different acid would lead to the same con- 

 ductivity value for the hydrogen ion. This was found to be the 

 case : the transference numbers obtained with j^ and -^^ nitric 

 acid give a conductivity value corresponding within i per cent to 

 that derived from the transference experiments with hydrochloric 

 acid at the same concentrations. The discrepancy between the 

 result obtained by this method and that by the conductivity method 

 remains to be explained. 



Thomas B. Osborn, New Haven, Conn. Grant No. 192. For 

 research on chemical substarices yielded by proteids of the wheat 

 kernel ivhen decomposed by acids. $1,500. 



Abstract of Report.— "TYl^ object of this investigation is to deter- 

 mine the nature and proportion of the different amine acids yielded 

 by hydrolyzing the several protein bodies contained in the wheat 

 kernel. As this investigation was but recently begun, the work 

 has at present extended only to the preparation of a considerable 

 quantity of pure gliadin and glutenin and the determination of the 

 amount of glutaminic acid which several fractions of the former have 

 yielded when decomposed by boiling acid. As the individuality of 

 gliadin has recently been called in question by Kutscher, on the 

 ground of different yields of glutaminic acid which he obtained, 

 especial attention was necessarily first directed to this point. Dr. 

 Osborn found that the actual yield of glutaminic acid is far in excess 

 of that obtained by Kutscher from any of his fractions, and that the 

 differences which he observed were due to faulty determinations of 

 the amount of this substance. 



Although extensive fractionations were carried out, no evidence 

 of more than one protein substance, soluble in alcohol, was obtained, 

 so that this investigation, together with the work done in past years 

 in Dr. Osborn' s laboratory, shows gliadin to be one of the best char- 

 acterized and most definitely established protein substances accessible 

 for investigation on a large scale. His present work has also shown 

 that gliadin yields a larger proportion of glutaminic acid than any 

 9 



