168 EXPEEIMENT STATION KECOED. 



was in no way proportional to the quantity of material present in tlie intestine. 

 It was found that the carbon which was retained from the protein ingested 

 must have been retained in the form of glycogen, since the absorption of oxygen 

 during the different periods corresponded exactly with this assumption, 

 whereas, if the carbon had been retained in the form of fat, the oxygen absoi-p- 

 tion would have been 10 per cent less than that found. 



" Further experiments have shown that glutamic acid added to a .standard 

 diet does not increase the heat production in any way." 



Investigations on the digestion of milk — gastric digestion of casein, L. 

 Gaucher (Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol. [Paris], 72 (1912), No. 9, pp. 354, 355).— 

 Continuing previous work (E. S. R., 26, p. 662), the author studied the diges- 

 tion of artificially separate\l casein in a dog with a duodenal fistula. Com- 

 paring the results with those of normal human digestion, he concludes that the 

 digestion of casein corresponds to the final stage of the digestion of milk. He 

 summarizes the process of normal milk digestion as follows : 



Of 7 gm. of casein absorbed with 250 cc. of milk, 4 gm. passes immediately 

 from the stomach in a liquid state, and 1 gm. in jthe form of a loose clot, while 

 the remaining 2 gm. contracts and hardens rapidly. Energetic gastric move- 

 ments are necessary to reduce them to a puree, under which form- they leave 

 the stomach from 1 to 1* hours after ingestion. 



Calcium absorption in tlie animal body from pasteurized and sterilized 

 m.ilk, J. ZiMMER (XJeber Kalkresorption im Tierkorper bei Verivcndimg von 

 pasteurisierter und sterilisierter Milch. Inaug. Diss. [Univ.], Strassburg, 1911, 

 pp. 12; abs. in Hyg. Rundschau, 22 (1912), No. 6, p. 364). — Two dogs were 

 fed with pasteurized, 2 with sterilized, and 3 with raw milk. The animals were 

 killed from 2 to 21 hours after the meal and the amount of calcium in the 

 contents of various portions of the intestines was determined. The results do 

 not indicate that these methods of treating milk greatly affect the amount 

 of calcium assimilated. 



Studies on water drinking. — XII, On the allantoin output of man as in- 

 jBuenced by water ingestion, L.. T. Fairhall and P. B. Hawk {Jour. Amer. 

 Chem. Soc, 34 {1912), Xo. .'/, pp. 51,6-550). — Continuing previous work (E. S. R., 

 26, p. 360), the authors conducted experiments summarized as follows: 



" When the diet of a normal man was supplemented by 900 cc. of water per 

 day the average daily output of allantoin . . . was 0.0135 gm. for a period of 

 13 days. Upon increasing the water intake to 3,450 cc. per day for a period of 

 5 days, the average daily allantoin excretion was increased to 0.0173 gm. Tliis 

 constitutes an approxima,te 20 per cent increase. The daily value for a 5-day 

 final period on the original 900 cc. water ingestion was 0.0122 gm. 



"The increase in the allantoin output accompanying water drinking may 

 indicate that the oxidative mechanism of the organism has been stimulated 

 through the introduction of the large volume of water into the. body, and that 

 purin material which would ordinarily have been exci<eted in some less highly 

 oxidized form has been oxidized to allantoin and excreted in this form. This 

 interpretation is strengthened by the finding in this laboratoi-y of a decreased 

 uric acid output after the water ingestion of the subject (man) had been 

 considerably increased. 



" In view of the fact that the above interpretation is contrary to the current 

 views regarding purin metabolism in the human organism, the authors make the 

 interpretation tentatively until further experiments may be completed." 



The utilization of yeast in the human organism, W. Voltz and* A. Bau- 

 DREXEL {Biochcm. Ztschr., 30 {1911), No. 6, pp. 457-4^2; 31 {1911), No. 3-4, 

 pp. 355-357; abs. in Hyg. Rundschau, 22 {1912), No. 4, p. 245; ZtscJir. Unter- 

 such. Nahr. u. Oenussmtl., 23 {1912), No. 4, 174). — When 100 gms. of desic- 



