FOODS HUMAN NUTRITION. 



763 



that the mean amount of this amino acid fi-om the wheat protehi is nearly 

 twice as large. The same also is true of ammonia. 



" The proportion of arginin from wheat gluten is relatively small compared 

 with that from most other seed jiroteins, many of which yield from 10 to 10 per 

 cent of this base. 



"The proportion of lysin is lilcewise small, esi)ecially compared with that 

 obtained from the leguminous seeds. Tlie amount of histidln, liowever, does not 

 differ very greatly from that of the other seed proteins. What significance 

 these differences liave in respect to the nutritive value of tliese different proteins 

 must be determined by future investigati»m, for it has (mly very recently been 

 discovered that such differences exist. 



" That a molecule of gliadin can have the same nutritive value as one of 

 casein would seem impossible if one molecule of food protein is transformed 

 into one of tissue protein, for in tlie former lysin is wholly lacking, and glu- 

 taminic acid, ammonia, and proliu are in great excess over the amount 

 required to form any of the tissue proteins of whicli we know. It would seem 

 probable that either the animal requires a variety of food, so that the relative 

 proportion in which the amino acids are availal)le f(jr its use shall correspond 

 more nearly to its requirements, or that only a small part of these amino acids 

 are converted into its tissue iiroteins and the rest oxidized as sucli. It is pos- 

 sible that feeding experiments with proteins of known character in respect to 

 the relative proportions of their decomposition products will throw light on 

 these important questions." 



The balance of acid-forming' and base-forming elements in foods, H. C. 

 Sherman and J. E. Sinclair (Jour. Biol. Chem., 3 {1901), No. Jf, pp. 307- 

 309). — Food materials differ markedly with respect to the amount of acid which 

 they yield, some su]ipl.ying to the system an excess of acid-forming and others 

 of base-forming elements. The interest in questions concerned with acidosis led 

 the authors to report some results, obtained in a systematic stud.y which they 

 have undertaken, of the acid-forming and ])ase-formlng elements of foods. 



Of different methods for computing and expressing results the authors believe 

 it is most satisfactory to calculate the amount of each element found to the cor- 

 responding number of cubic centimeters of the normal solution of acid or base. 

 '• By then adding together the results obtained for all the base-forming and for 

 all the acid-forming elements, resi)ectiA'el.v, it is easy to conqiare the totals and 

 the result obtained shows the excess of acid-forming or of base-forming ele- 

 ments in terms of a familiar standard and in figures of convenient magnitude." 



The determinations rejiortcd follow: 



J'J.rciss (if itc'nl-fonniiit/ or Jiiisc-formuin clcmoits per 100 cdloyics iu <i numhcr 



of food umli'rials. 



It is noticeable that peas, in spite of their high jiroteiu content, contain an 

 excess of base-forming over acid-forming elements. " Doubtless in most other 

 vegetables this ' i)otential alkalinity ' will l)e found to be much greater. Wlien 



