564 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



Tho ituflior considers llic Onas a tall iicoiilc. tlic avcra.uo lioisht of the 11 men 

 who were measured beius 5 ft. 1) in. and states tliat their life involves many bard- 

 ships and much physical work and that they are capable of great endurance. 



Some general principles of dietetics, with special remarks on proprietary 

 foods. D. L. EnsAiL (Jour. Aiiirr. Mrd. Axsor., ')>, (1910), A'o. 3, pu. 1!Ki^]!l6).— 

 On the basis of his own exi)erience and other data, the author discusses the im- 

 portance of a thorough knowledge of food values and food requirements in 

 invalid dietetics. He also discusses proprietary foods and gives reasons for his 

 belief that it is not necessary, and seldom desirable, to depend upon tliem for 

 nourishment. 



Proprietary and predigested foods from the standpoint of the pediatrist, 

 J. Rowland (Jour. Amrr. Med. Assoc, f)Ji (1910), No. 3, pp. i9C-20/).— The 

 author discusses the character of proprietary foods, the use of predigested 

 medicinal foods, and artificial ferments in infant feeding. 



It is not, he concludes, " a narrow view to take that predigested medicinal 

 foods have no reason for existence, that proprietary infants' foods are unnec- 

 essary, and that in pediatrics we can almost entirely dispense with [artificial] 

 ferments. The propositions are well supported by fact." 



The paper is followed by a discussion which includes also the paper noted 

 above. 



Malted foods (Brif. Med. Jour., 1910, Xo. 2.5.58, p. ,SC).— Analyses of a num- 

 ber of commercial malted foods are reported. 



Most of the malt preparations commonly called malted foods " consist of a 

 farinaceous material — most frequently wheat flour — mixed with malt flour, 

 that is, the flour obtained by milling malted barley, or in some cases with dry 

 malt extract. The majority accordingly contain a large proportion of unaltered 

 starch, and this does not undergo digestion to any considerable extent when 

 the food is prepared for use, for the reason that the diastase of the malt will 

 not act on the starch until it has been gelatinized, and when the heat is suffi- 

 cient to do this it destroys the diastase." 



A malted food, as is pointed out, may be expected to contain malt-diastase 

 and this was determined in the goods examined in addition to the usual con- 

 stituents. It was found to vary from to 161 when determined according to 

 the method of the British Pharmacopoeia Codex test, in which the ability of a 

 material to digest its own weight of starch in 30 minutes at a temperature of 

 40° C. is designated 100. 



The importance of fish as a food, J. Konig and A. Splittgerber (Ztselir. 

 Untersuch. Nahr. u. Genussmtl., 18 {1909). No. 9, pp. 407-537, fig. 1).—A large 

 amount of data is summarized and discussed regarding the curing of flsh, its 

 composition and nutritive value, and its importance as food, and analyses are 

 reported of fi.sh and flsh products, which include creatin and other meat bases, 

 and the proportion of different nitrogenous constituents as well as elementary 

 analyses. The heat of combustion of fish fiesh was also determined as well as 

 the elementary composition, energy value, and constants of fish fat, and artificial 

 digestion experiments with fish flesh were made in comparison with meat. 



In general, the authors conclude that flsh flesh is as easily and as well 

 digested as meat and that it may constitute a very important source of nutritive 

 material. Under usual conditions in Germany fresh-water fish sell for much the 

 same price as meat, while salt-water fish are considerably cheaper. It follows, 

 therefore, according to the authors, that sea fish must be selected if it is 

 desired to lower the cost of the diet by using fish in place of meat. 



The use of sulphurous acid in chopped meat and the composition of some 

 preservative salts, W. Bremer and R. Beytiiien (Ztselir. Untersueh. Nahr. u. 

 GeiuissmtL, 18 [I'JO'J), No, 10, pp. 593-G00).—Tho results are reported of the 



