764 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.36 



dietary disease. Rigid examination of tissues from pellagrins revealed no 

 micro-organism that could be regarded as a specific etiological factor. 



" Pellagra, then, possesses no characteristic cell alterations, but the patho- 

 logical changes are those resulting from malnutrition. Consequently, it is 

 erroneous to assume that certain substances such as silicates, aluminates, etc., 

 are the etiological factors of pellagra, as some have done, because of the patho- 

 logical changes that have been induced as a result of the administration of 

 these substances. . . . 



" The pathological changes in tissues in malnutrition are very similar, 

 whether resulting from (a) no food, (b) unbalanced diets, (c) mild circulating 

 toxins which interfere with nutrition of cells. In (a) congestion and fatty 

 degeneration were more pronounced, while in (b) more pigment (hemosiderin) 

 was present." 



A bibliography is appended. 



II. Cultivation experiments tcith the blood and spinal fluid of pellagrins, by E. 

 Francis (pp. 75-SO ) .—Anaerobic cultivation was carried out on the blood of 21 

 pellagrins and on the spinal fluid of 16 pellagrins. " The results of the ex- 

 amination of the cultures were negative; the cultures either remained sterile 

 or an occasional tube showed a growth which was evidently a contamination." 



III. Further attempts to transmit peUagara to monkeys, by E. Francis (pp. 

 81-102). — Attempts to transmit pellagra to laboratory animals (monkeys) by 

 the inoculation of various materials obtained from pellagrins are reported. Of 

 the 94 animals experimented upon only one showed any indications which even 

 suggested pellagra. This exceptional case is described in detail, and the author 

 states that the results of this investigation furnislied no support for the view 

 that pellagra is an infectious disease, 



Th.e production in dogs of a pathological condition which, closely resembles 

 human pellagra, R. H. Chittenden and F. P. Underhill {Proc. Nat. Acad. 

 Set., 3 (1917), No. S, pp. 195-197). — By feeding laboratory animals (dogs) upon 

 a diet consisting of boiled dried peas, cracker meal, and cottonseed oil or lard 

 a diseased condition which closely resembled human pellagra was produced. 

 The ingestion of suitable quantities of meat caused these symptoms to disap- 

 pear. 



The intake of a large quantity of peas was found to be less detrimental than 

 smaller amounts. It was more difficult to produce these symptoms in the ani- 

 mals when a diet containing meat, cracker meal, and lard was fed, and for 

 the production of the diseased condition the meat intake had to be reduced to a 

 certain undefined minimum. 



The conclusion is drawn that the abnormal condition is due to a deficiency of 

 some essential dietary constituent or constituents. 



ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 



Palm kernel cake, C. Ceowther (Jour. Bd. Agr. [London'], 23 (1916), No. 8. 

 pp. 734-749). — This gives a summary of investigations by others at the Uni- 

 versity of Leeds upon the merits of palm nut kernel cake and meal as a feed- 

 ing stuff. 



On account of the difficulties of mastication and swallowing of palm kernel 

 cake due to its grittiness cattle and sheep did not readily take to this feed. 

 These difficulties were overcome where the palm kernel cake was fed with 

 twice its weight of other cake. In laboratory and farm tests, palm kernel cake 

 compared favorably in keeping quality with most of the oil cakes used on the 

 farm. In digestion experiments with sheep, palm kernel cake gave the follow- 

 ing average percentages of digestibility : Total dry matter 74.2, organic matter 

 75.9, protein 91, fat 97.5, nitrogen-free extract 83.1, and crude fiber 37.1. The 



