FOODS HUMAN NUTRITION. 263 



loss of water. Full details are given of metabolism experiments; the respira- 

 tory data indicate luxus consumption. 



The influence of preparation of food on. its digestibility, F. Best {Deut. 

 Arch. Klin. Med., IO4 {1911), No. 1-2, pp. 9-'i-118; abs. in Jour. Amer. Med. 

 Assoc., 51 (1911), No. 21, p. 1730). — The question was studied with dogs hav- 

 ing retention cannulas at different points in the small intestines. 



The addition of butter to bread and vegetables lengthened the time foods 

 remained in the stomach and upper intestines, and so in the author's opinion 

 increased thoroughness of digestion. Sugar, bread, and potatoes remained 

 only a short time in this part of the digestive tract and made the lowest de- 

 mands on digestive secretions. Flour gruels, meat, and cream wei-e completely 

 assimilated, no residue reaching the cannulas. Raw fruit was digested to a 

 soft mass before reaching the large intestine. It is the author's opinion that 

 the work of the digestive apparatus is lessened if fruit is cooked soft before it 

 is eaten. 



In general, he calls attention to the fact that the appearance and flavor of 

 food stimulates the appetite and the secretory and motor reflexes which aid 

 digestion. 



The tirae different foods remain in the stomach, Wulach (MiincJten. Med. 

 Wchnschr., 58 {1911), No. I,',, pp. 2319-2322).— According to the experimental 

 data reported, carbohydrate mixtures remain in the stomach from 2J to 85 

 hours ; proteid mixtures from 5 to 6 hours ; and fat from 7 to 8* hours. Potato 

 and pork fat mixtures remained a longer time in the stomach than potato and 

 cream or potato and butter, indicating differences in the digestibility of different 

 fats. The results are discussed on the basis of invalid dietetics. 



The dig'estibility of white of egg as influenced by the temperature at 

 which it is coagulated, P. FranIc {Jour. Biol. Chem., 9 (1911), No. 6, pp. 

 463-470, dgms. 2). — Some of the conclusions follow which were drawn from the 

 author's experimental study of the artificial digestion of egg white : 



" The progress of the hydrochloric-acid action and the total digestion is most 

 rapid in the albumin not heated beyond 75°C. 



" If the tubes were heated up to 100° C, then those in which the heating 

 started at 40° show greater hydrochloric-acid action and digestibility than 

 those started at 50° and so on consecutively while the 100° shows the least. 



" The rate of digestion seems to progress more evenly with the hydrochloric- 

 acid action in the albumin heated up to 75° C than it does in the others. . . . 



" The progress of the hydrochloric-acid action and the digestion, while pro- 

 portionately greater the longer the period of digestion, diminishes relatively as 

 digestion continues." 



The paper includes a critical discussion of methods. 



The digestion of flour, M. Klotz (Jahrb. Einderhcilk., 73 (1911), No. 4; 

 abs. in. Zentbl. Physiol., 25 {1911), No. 8, p. 319). — The investigations reported 

 liave to do with the effect of different kinds of flour on the bacterial content of 

 the feces. 



Diet and pellagra — a warning against ill-advised attacks on foodstuffs, 

 G. A. Zeller (Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 57 (1911), No. 21, pp. 1688-1690). — The 

 author is of the opinion that the statements which have been made connecting 

 corn and cotton-seed Qil with pellagra are not warranted, and that in the light 

 of present knowledge of this disease " it is safe to advise the public to continue 

 to use standard food preparations." 



Pellagrous symptoms produced experimentally in fowls by feeding maize 

 spoiled by inoculation with a specific bacterium, C. C. Bass (Jour. Amer. 



