272 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



BEVERAGES. 



Papers have been published upon the longevity of bacteria in com- 

 mercial bottled waters, uj^on acids in beverages, and upon the 

 clarification and preservation of fruit juices. Much instruction has 

 been given manufacturers upon the best methods of operation, es- 

 pecially in the use of such sugar substitutes as maltose sirup. 



FLOUR AND CEREALS. 



Department Bulletin 839, The Microscopical Examination of 

 Flour, proposes a method for the determination of the grade of a 

 flour based on the use of the microscope to count the number of offal 

 particles which differs considerably in the different grades of flour. 



Reports have been issued or completed upon a simple method for 

 measuring the acidity of cereal products and its application to 

 sulphured and unsulphured oats, upon the composition and baking 

 value of flour particles of different sizes, upon pearled barley and its 

 manufacture and composition, and upon the laboratory control of 

 wheat-flour milling. 



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FOOD FLORA, SPOILAGE, AND FERMENTATION 



Reference to the year's work upon the spoilage and the flora of 

 specific articles of food are made elsewhere in this report, where 

 such foodstuffs are specifically considered. The work upon spoilage 

 centered principall}^ upon the study of botulism and upon the study 

 of the spoilage of salmon. 



A summar}' of the bureau's investigations of poisoning due to ripe 

 olives was published in the May 1 number of the Journal of the Ameri- 

 can Medical Association. Other papers upon the results of the investi- 

 gations of botulism have been prepared under the titles Botulism 

 from Canned Asparagus and The Possible Pathogenicity of Bacillus 

 hofulmus. The work on botulism is tending to the study of a num- 

 ber of related bacterial groups as possible causes of a variety of food 

 poisonings related to but not so fatal as botulism. Moreover, it has 

 been shown that massive doses of Baeilhfs hotulimis free from toxin 

 when injected subcutaneously or intravenously are capable of pro- 

 ducing untoward effects. It seems that similar results may be ob- 

 tained with other related groups of putrefactive organisms. It is 

 possible that studies of this kind will in time clear up many obscure 

 clinical conditions that are designated in general as ptomaine pois- 

 oning but that we know to-day have nothing to do with the presence 

 in the food of the group of chemical substances known as ptomaines. 



In the stud}^ upon the spoilage of salmon the following reports have 

 been issued : An Aerobic Spore-Forming Bacillus in Canned Salmon ; 

 and Bacteriological Experiments with Salmon. Papers have been 

 prepared under the following titles: Bacterial Decomposition of 

 Salmon : and Bacterial Groups in Decomposing Salmon. These 

 studies have given the first information on the bacterial flora of fresh 

 salmon, and they show that the conditions under which salmon are 

 handled in Puget Sound make it possible to keep these fish for at 

 least 48 hours liefore there is any noticeable invasion of the flesh by 



