466 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



" Data from this and previous experiments along similar lines made upon 

 [one of the subjects] seem to indicate that there is of necessity no uniform 

 relationship between the urinary indican excretion and the output of bacteria 

 in the feces, even when the diet of the subject is of the same general character. 



" The indican value for the high protein period subsequent to the fast was 

 approximately 60 per cent higher than the indican value for the preliminary 

 period, notwithstanding the fact that the ingested diet was identical in Isiud 

 and quantity in the two instances. 



" On the seventh day of fasting approximately 40 per cent of the total quan- 

 tity of ethereal-SOa excreted in the urine was in the form of indican-SOs, 

 whereas only about 10 per cent w^as excreted in this form in the urine of the 

 fourth fasting day." « 



An experiment on a fasting' man, F. G. Benedict (Science, n. ser., 35 (1912), 

 No. 909, p. 865). — A brief note is given regarding a 31-day experiment during 

 complete fasting. Many f.sctors, including those measurable with the respira- 

 tion calorimeter, were taken into account. 



The interstitial granules of striated muscle and their relation to nutrition, 

 E. T. Bell (Internat. Monatsschr. Anat. u. Physiol., 28 {1911), No. 10-12, pp. 

 297-347, pi. 1; abs. in ZentU. Biochem. u. Biophys., 13 (1912), No. 3, p. 92).— 

 The interstitial granules of striated muscles of mammals were found to consist 

 chiefly of liposomes. Neither fatty acids nor soaps were found. 



During fasting the liposonaes disappear from the muscle and appear again 

 on feeding. In the case of the frog an increase of these bodies is noticed at the 

 beginning of summer and a decrease in autumn. When rats are fed fat meat 

 a marked increase in liposomes is noted and a deepening of their color. The 

 author believes that the liposomes are not cellular organs but fat depositories. 



An extended bibliography is included. 



Idiosyncrasy and anaphylaxis (Med. Rev. of Reviews, 18 (1912), No. 6, 

 pp. 366, 367). — The data here suramarizal indicate that idiosyncrasies observed 

 in individuals with respect to different articles of diet may be attributable to 

 hyper-susceptibility to the toxic action of proteids or other material. 



The respiration calorimeter and its uses for the study of problems of 

 vegetable physiology, C. F. Langwoethy and R. D. Milner (Jour. Biol. Chem. 

 11 (1912), No. 2, Proc, p. xxxiii). — A brief account is given of the use of the 

 respiration calorimeter (E. S. R., 25, p. 570) for the study of problems concerned 

 with ripening fruit and of the construction of a new calorimeter specially 

 designed for use in the study of such problems. 



Nutrition laboratory, F. G. Benedict (Carnegie Inst. Washington Year Book, 

 10 (1911), pp. 183-197). — A brief description is given of the equipment, investi- 

 gations in progress, publications, and work of the laboratory in general. 



ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 



The influence of selection and assortative mating on the ancestral and 

 fraternal correlations of a Mendelian population, E. C. Snow (Proc. Roy. Soc. 

 [London], Ser. B, 85 (1912), No. B 578, pp. 195, 196).— "In general terms, it 

 was established that the effect of taking a selected sample instead of a random 

 one from a population showing a zero coefficient of assoi'tative mating would be 

 to find the ancestral and fraternal correlations within that sample less than 

 those of a random sample, so long as the variability was diminished by the 

 selection. If an ancestor be selected, the correlations between that ancestor 

 and descendants diminish in geometrical progression. On the whole, selection 

 of parents appears to affect the correlations between them and their offspring 

 to a greater extent than it affects the relationship between those offspring them- 



