152 Report of Department of Animal Industry of the 



These results led the above authors to believe that the substance 

 which they had isolated was identical with the organic-phosphorus 

 compound described by Palladin/ Schulze and Winterstein,^ and 

 later by Winterstein,^ and which was finally obtained in pure form 

 by Posternak,'* who gave the substance the name " phytin ". 



The above substance, isolated by Patten and Hart and which 

 they assumed to be phytin, has since then been regarded as such 

 by other investigators, among whom may be mentioned Suzuki and 

 Yoshimura,^ Neuberg,^ and ForbesJ These authors do not, how- 

 ever, report any complete analyses of the substance. 



Since the investigation of the organic-phosphorus compound of 

 wheat bran by Patten and Hart, several feeding experiments, some 

 of which have not yet been published, to determine the physiological 

 effect of phytin have been carried out at this institution by Dr. 

 Jordan. In these experiments it has been found that the effect of 

 pure phytin salts has been decidedly different from that obtained by 

 feeding varying quantities of washed and unwashed wheat bran.^ 

 These anomalous results could not be explained on the assumption 

 that only " phytin " was removed from the bran by washing. What 

 still more complicated the problem was the fact that previous work 

 had shown that very little besides phosphorus compounds and 

 inorganic bases had been removed from the wheat bran in the process 

 of washing or leaching.^ 



In the hope of throwing some light on this subject, the chemical 

 investigation of the products removed from wheat bran by washing 

 it in dilute acid was again taken up. The chief object was to isolate 

 and identify the organic-phosphorus body and to determine what 

 bases were associated with it. 



If ordinary wheat bran be extracted with 0.2 per ct. hydrochloric 

 acid and the resulting filtered extract precipitated with alcohol, a 

 body is obtained which, after repeated precipitations from 0.2 per ct. 

 hydrochloric acid with alcohol, shows a relatively uniform com- 

 position. The composition varies somewhat, depending upon the 

 conditions under which the substance is. prepared, but on an average 

 it has been found to be about as follows: C 21.0, H 3.5, P 14.0 

 per ct. The substance also contains calcium, magnesium, potassium 

 and sodium in varying amounts, together with traces of iron, and it 

 always contains nitrogen varying from 2.1 to 0.4 per ct. The 

 nitrogen, however, is not present as ammonia. 



^Zischr.Biol.3\:19Q. 1894. 

 -Ztschr. physiol. Chem. 22: 90. 

 3 Ber. deut. Chem. Ges. 30: 2299. 



^ Rev. Gen. Bot. 12: 5 and 65 (1900) and Compt. Rend. 137: 202, 337 and 439 (1903). 

 "• Bull. Coll. Agric. (Tokyo) 7: 498. 

 « Biochem. Ztschr. 16: 405. 

 ' Ohio Agr. Exp. Sta. Bull. 215. 

 8 Amer. Jour. Physiol. 16: 268. 1906. 

 9 /6iU 16: 274 and 304. 1900. 



