502 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



The temperature has a great influence upon this process. At a little above 

 zero there is no action, and at 48° C. or thereabouts the action is only very 

 slight. The optimum lies at .28° C. The enzym in the barley see<l is in the 

 free state, while that in the maize seed is in the pro-state, becomes active only 

 after germination, and is pi'esent in greatest amount in the sprouts and scutel- 

 lum. The enzym was found to be soluble in 1 per cent acetic acid. 



Part 4 deals with phytin, its composition, and its decomposition products. The 

 author prepared crude phytic acid from maize flour, and from it a crystalline 

 acid barium phytinate, which on analysis yielded the formula Ci2lrLG04ePiiBa7. 

 This does not agree with the formula for phytic acid evolved by Poster- 

 nak.*^ As inosit and phosphoric acid are formed by the hydrolysis of phytic 

 acid or its barium salt, this points to the presence of an inosit ring in phytic 

 acid. 



A preliminary note on the fatty substances in the oat kernel, R. A. Berry 

 (Rpt. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1910, p. 579). — "Dry oat kernel was subjected to 

 repeated 5-hour extractions with diffei'ent solvents, 5 gm. in duplicate or 

 quadruplicate being taken in each case, with the result that ether, chloroform, 

 light boiliug point petroleum ether, and carbon tetrachlorid extracted over 95 

 per cent, absolute alcohol 92.5 per cent, benzene 89.24 per cent, and acetone 

 88.9 per cent of the total exti*act in the first of three 5-hour extractions. The 

 ether extractions were rei^eated 6 times, and the last extraction still gave an 

 increase of 1.7 per cent. The oil from the chloroform and alcohol extract was 

 turbid; in the rest it was clear. Invariably the second and third exti'actions 

 were partly solid. In the case of chloroform it was a clear crystalline solid. 

 The residual meal after the 30-hour ether extraction was extracted for a fur- 

 ther 5 hours with absolute alcohol, and yielded 0.083 gm. extract; and the 

 residual meal from the 15-hour alcohol extract yielded, with a further 5 hours* 

 extraction with ether, 0.004 gm. extract. The former was composed mostly of 

 lecithin. Taking the total ether extract of three 5-hour extractions as 100, 

 the ratio for the other solvents obtamed in the same way are : Petroleum ether 

 97.07, carbon tetrachlorid 104.24, chloroform 109.78, acetone 112.71, benzene 

 113.15, absolute alcohol 127.93. 



" Pure dry ether, compared with ordinary ether, with a 15-hour extraction 

 yielded the following results calculated as percentages of the di'y meal : Dry 

 meal — dry ether 9.25, ordinary ether 9.43; air-dry meal — dry ether 9.4, ordinary 

 ether 9.72. Dry ether and dry meal yield the purer oil. 



" Oat oil from the dry ether extract gives a saponification equivalent of 265, 

 potash absorption 21.2 per cent, iodin absorption 99.9 per cent, and it contains 

 4 per cent of free fatty acids calculated as oleic acid. With nitrous acid a solid 

 elaiden was formed. 



" The greater part of the lead salts of the fatty acids were soluble in ether 

 and yielded fatty acids liquid at the ordinary temperature, with a mean com- 

 bining weight of 254 and iodin absorption of 106. The fatty acids from the in- 

 soluble lead salts were solid. Small amounts of unsaponiflable matter were 

 found in all the extracts." 



In regard to the chemical composition of rice germ, L. Bernardini {Abs. 

 in Chem. Ztg., 35 {1911), No. 48, p. 437). — The phosphorus content of the entire 

 rice seed was found to be 0.95 per cent, while in the embryo it was 0.2 per cent. 

 The greater portion of the phosphorus is phytin, that is, auhydrooxydimethylene 

 diphosphoric acid. The ash of the embryo besides containing the usual elements 

 also contains silicic oxid, potassium, and magnesium. Silicic acid has probably 

 a greater physiological significance than has been heretofore attributed to it. 



«Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. [Paris], 137 (1903), p. 439. 



