IFOODS HUMAN NUTRITION. 761 



and the glycogen determined in the liver and lean muscle. The authors consider 

 the recorded data insufficient for final deductions but believe that it is possible 

 from their results to point out probable factors which may influence the glyco- 

 gen content. 



Quotations from the authors' sunmiary follow : 



" It is quite possible the older the animal the greater the tendency to store 

 the glj-cogen. All of the animals 3 years old or over show more than 1 per 

 cent of glycogen in the liver. 



"The condition (fatness) of the animal may favor the storing of glycogen. 

 Our results are a little contradictory. . . . 



" The length of time that elapses after feeding before the animal is slaughtered 

 seems to be a very important factor in determining the amount of glycogen that 

 remains stored in the organs and muscles of the animal. . . . 



" While we have just considered some of the factors that may influence the 

 amount of glycogen that the animal stores up, it must not be overlooked that the 

 time that elapses from the killing of the animal until the sample is digesting in 

 the alkali may be the chief factor that influences the amount of glycogen found. 

 With our first animals slaughtered no exact record was taken of the time. The 

 sample was always sent to the laboratory as soon as obtained and the chemist 

 immediately went to work to prepare the sample for the analysis, thinking in 

 this way to have all results comi)arable. The failure of the results to estab- 

 lish any definite law and knowing how rapidly the acidity of flesh increases 

 under similar conditions, led us to consider more carefully the element of time 

 as measuring perhaps the amount of enzymatic reaction. . . . 



" These results would seem to suggest that an appreciable amount of enzymatic 

 hydrolysis may take place between the weighing out of the samples. ... If fur- 

 ther work confirms the present results as to a rapid hydrolysis of the glycogen, 

 it will show how utterly worthless the glycogen determination is for the detec- 

 tion of the presence of horseflesh. , . . 



"These results indicate that at 10° C. or lower no appreciable hydrolysis of 

 the glycogen takes place. This jirobieni is to be studied further during the 

 ensuing year." 



Test in handling and storage of poultry, Mary E. Pennington {Nat. Pro- 

 visioncr, 42 {.1910), Nos. 4, pp. 10, 23, 24; 5, pp. 23, 2//).— The results of ex- 

 periments carried on by the U. S. Department of Agriculture are summarized 

 and discussed with reference to dry-picked and scalded birds stored for varying 

 lengths of time in different packages, and the results of storing drawn and 

 undrawn poultry (E. S. R., 20. p. JjGO) are given. 



• Among other topics data are summarized regarding the bacteria present in 

 poultry stored in different ways and their relation to putrefaction. 



" If there is any doubt about the class into which these birds fall, so far as 

 keeping quality is concerned, we can classify them with a fair degree of 

 accuracy in the laboratory, since bacteria mean decomposition, and the more 

 we have the more profound will I»e the changes in the chicken, changes putre- 

 factive in character, which we simply designate as change or decomposition. 



'• The crux of this whole matter seems to be summed up in a very few words — 

 prompt storage, dry picking, dry chilling. ... If we can apply those ele- 

 mentary principles to our poultry industry, not only the producer, but the 

 warehouseman and the consumer will greatly benefit." 



Preserved chopped meat, E, Baiek {Ber. Nahrmtl. Untersuch. Amt. Landw. 

 Kammer Brandenh., 1908, p. S; abs. in Ztschr. Untersuch. Nahr. u. Genussmtl., 

 19 {1910), No. 2, p. 102). — Chopped meat which had caused severe illness in a 

 number of persons was examined. It contained preservative salt and was odor- 

 less and noticeably red after being kept for some days. 



