FOODS — HUMAN NUTRITION. 463 



The cooking' and chemical composition of some English fish, Katherine I. 

 Williams (Chem. Xews, lOJf {1911), No, 2715, p. 271). — Continuing previous 

 ■work (E. S. R., 19, p. 259), the author studied the composition of fish com- 

 monly eaten in England, with special reference to the loss of weight during 

 cooking and the proportion of waste, and reports analyses of many samples 

 of cooked fish. 



The average loss of weight during cooking of 22 specimens was found to be 

 23.5 per cent. Table waste varied from 6.5 per cent in the case of salmon to 

 47.0 per cent in the case of gurnet. The waste or refuse was carefully weighed, 

 " crushed with a pestle and mortar, boiled in distilled water, the filtrate 

 siphoned off, and evaporated over a water bath until the weight of the residue 

 was constant; this was weighed as gelatin." The phosphoric anhydrid and 

 sulphuric anhydrid were calculated " for the materials in their natural moist 

 condition as served at table." Tables of composition of the moist and water- 

 free materials are also given. 



The aging of flour and its effect on digestion, J. A. Weseneb and G. L. 

 Teller {Jour. Indus, and Engin. Chem., 3 {1911), No. 12, pp. 912-919).— Arti- 

 ficial digestion experiments were conducted with cornstarch, with starch from 

 flours bleached with nitrogen oxids, with breads from unbleached flour to 

 which nitrogen oxids were added, with unbleached flour, and with fibrin com- 

 bined with nitrite nitrogen. The conclusions reached were as follows : 



" Xitrites do not interfere with diastase in its action on starch, even when 

 present as sodium nitrite to the extent of 1 part in 1,000. 



" Nitrous and nitric acid do not inhibit the action of peptic digestion, and 

 may wholly replace hydrochloric acid in this essential first stage of digestion, 

 while digestion by pepsin without acids will not take place. 



" While pancreatic digestion will not take place in the presence of free acids, 

 It is not inhibited by the presence of relatively large quantities of nitrites, nor 

 Is its action restrained on the proteid which has been previously subjected to 

 appreciable quantities of nitrous and nitric acids. 



" The nitrite-reacting material of flour, as far as we have been able to de- 

 termine, is entirely due to the direct union of the coloring matter and the 

 nitrogen oxid." 



Concerning' stringiness in bread, M. P. Neumann and O. Kttischewsky 

 (Ztschr. Gesam. Getreidew., 3 {1911), Nos. 9, pp. 187-191; 10, pp. 215-220; 

 11, pp. 242-245). — Experiments were made to determine the nature of the 

 bacterial disease causing stringy or slimy bread— a disease occuring in bak- 

 eries in all parts of Germany, especially during periods of prolonged heat, and 

 due to the potato bacillus. Its spores survive the heat of cooking and produce 

 the slimy or stringy character in the crumb within 2 to 4 days after baking. 



The authors made tests with different flours, yeasts, and leavens, on the in- 

 fluence of varying water content, the addition of rice and potato starch, storage 

 conditions, etc., and reached the following conclusions: The bacillus is present 

 in flours and meals of all grades and kinds, and the danger of infection can not 

 be wholly avoided. Rice and potato starch are somewhat more favorable to its 

 growth than wheat or rye flours. The acid present in breads made with leaven 

 tends to check the growth of the bacilli and such breads are less likely to be 

 affected than those raised by yeast. The spores develop best at a temperature 

 of 40° O., so their growth can sometimes be checked by cooling the bread, there- 

 fore cool, airy storerooms are to be recommended. The water content of the 

 bread also Influences their virility, large, moist loaves proving more susceptible 

 than dry and small ones. Storing the flour in cool, airy rooms is also believed 

 to be beneficial. 



