666 EXPERIMENT STATION RECOKD. (Vol.38 



the young of healthy mothers are probably born with a reserve supply of the 

 so-called vitamin substances sufficient to maintain them in good nutritive condi- 

 tion until the time vphen they begin to eat other foodstuffs. No evidence was 

 obtained in these experiments that autoclaving the milk for two hours at 

 125° C. in any way affected its nutritive value. 



ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 



The feeding of animals, W. H. Jordan {New York: The Macmillan Co., 1917. 

 rev. ed., pp. XyiI-\-Jtl3, pis. 8, figs. 11). — This is a new and revised edition of 

 the work previously noted (E. S. R., 13, p. 880). The recent advances in the 

 subject of animal feeding with respect to growth and maintenance under 

 various conditions, together with the results of recent investigations on 

 growth-promoting substances, have been included. 



The relative value of certain proteins and protein concentrates as supple- 

 ments to corn gluten, T. B. Osborne, L. B. Mendel, et al. (Jour. Biol. Chem., 

 29 {1917), No. 1, pp. 69-92, fig. 1). — In this paper the authors present data re- 

 garding the growth of laboratory animals (rats) which throw light upon the 

 relative nutritive value of a number of proteins and protein concentrates when 

 used to supplement corn gluten in an otherwise adequate ration. The sub- 

 stances studied included casein, lactalbumin, edestin, cottonseed protein, 

 cottonseed flour, soy-bean flour, "milk albumin," beef tissue, fish-meat meal, 

 corn-oil cake, " vegetable-albumin flour," brewers' grains, distillers' grains, pea 

 meal, and peanut meal. 



The results of the experiments indicate that " such food mixtures of approxi- 

 mately the same nitrogen and calorific content vary greatly in their efliciency 

 for promoting growth, in accordance with both the character and the propor- 

 tion of the protein supplement employed. The efficiency of these supplements 

 presumably depends essentially upon their relative content of lysin and tryp- 

 tophan ; for the addition of these amino acids, either as such or in the form 

 of proteins yielding them, renders corn gluten suitable for growth, 



" Of the various proteins employed to supplement the inefficient corn gluten, 

 lactalbumin is by far the most effective. Satisfactory growth is produced 

 with smaller quantities of this protein than of any of the others recorded. 

 The samples of brewers' grains, distillers' grains, and ' vegetable-albumin 

 flour ' used were the least efficient supplements tested, presumably because of 

 their low content of lysin. 



" It is evident that the small additions of the more efficient proteins actually 

 supplement the corn gluten instead of themselves furnishing all of the protein 

 used for growth, because equivalent amounts of these proteins alone in a 

 similar ration are incapable of inducing a comparable degree of growth. Small 

 amounts of a superior protein are often just as efficient for growth as larger 

 amounts of a less adequate protein." 



The authors state that the plan of feeding here described affords a practical 

 method for studying accurately the comparative nutritive value of the nitro- 

 genous components of commercial feeding stuffs. 



[Bacteriological examination of feeding stuffs] {Dept. Landb., Nijv. en 

 Handel [Netherlands], Verslag. en Meded. Dir. Landh., No. 5 {1916), pp. 12, 

 2gy — The bacteriological examination of feeding stuffs as a control of sound- 

 ness and freshness is noted. Normal samples were found to contain from 

 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 organisms per gram, while spoiled samples showed as 

 high a content as 50,000,000 bacteria per gram of sample. The acidity of 

 linseed cake was found to run parallel with the number of micro-organisms 

 and also the degree of rancidity. 



