461 



The influence of steaming on the nutritive value of lupine, S. Gabriel 

 {Journ. f. Landic, 38 (1800), pp. G9-90). — lu treating lni)ine Avitli steam 

 under pressnre, as is olten done to remove its bitter taste and other- 

 wise ijrepare it for feeding, changes take place in the food constitu- 

 ents which may effect their nutritive value. In the experiment here 

 described, the lupine was heated with steam at 140° C. during 4 hours. 



An examination showed 100 parts of the protein of the lupine before 

 and after steaming to contain nitrogen in the form of — 



A digestion experiment with sheep gave the following results : 



Co-efficients of digestibility of raiv and steamed lupine. 



Organic 

 matter. 



Crude 

 protein. 



Crude fat. 



Crude 

 cellulose. 



Nitrogen- 

 free ex- 

 tract. 



Lupine before steaming 

 Lupine after steaming . 



Per cent. 

 80. 92 

 67.89 



Per cent. 

 86.97 

 67.07 



Per cent. 

 76. 20 and 66. 27 

 39. 16 and 78. 22 



Per cent. 

 77.18 

 68.92 



Per cent. 

 75.95 

 65.87 



The digestibility is, according to this experiment, considerably 

 diminished by the steaming process. The author attributes this to the 

 high temperature of the steam, as two samples of fibrin prepared from 

 blood, which tests showed to be almost entirely digestible, were found 

 after being heated at 115° 0. during 8 hours to have diminished in 

 digestibility in pepsin solution to 59 and 65 per cent, respectively. The 

 author suggests that this may have been due to the giving off of water 

 accompanying a decomposition of the material. A curious fact is that 

 while the daily ration of raw lupine contained 12.44 grams of digesti- 

 ble albuminoid and 0.7 gram of non-albuminoid nitrogen, against 8.25 

 grams of albuminoid and 1.88 grams of non-albuminoid nitrogen in 

 the steamed food, the amount of nitrogen laid on in the body by the 

 animals was more while the steamed lupine was fed (2.75 grams) than 

 with the raw lupine (2.39 grams). While it is well known that aspar* 

 agin can act as an albuminoid economizer, this material could not have 

 been formed at the temperature of the steaming process, and could not 

 account for so great differences if it had been present. 



The results would indicate that a mixture of albuminoids and amides 

 may possess a higher nutritive value than pure albuminoids containing 

 a like amount of nitrogen; and the author suggests that little-known 

 amide bodies may play a most important part in nutrition. 



Limit to the assimilation of sugars, F. Hofmeister [Centralhlt. f. d. Med. 

 Wis-scmch., 28 (1890), 244; Gentralblt. f. Agr. Chem., 19 (1890), p. 71G).— 

 The author made experiments on small dogs, and found that with the 



