664 EXPEKIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.38 



" The facts are that the soda solution Is an approved substitute for steriliza- 

 tion by steam and boiling water, but it is not required that the solution be used 

 hot. ... It is intended that the lye solution shall be used when arrangements 

 for heating are not available." 



A comparison of three methods of determining defective nutrition, F. A. 

 Manny (xlrcft. Fed., S5 (1918), No. 2, pp. S-9). — Data compiled from a study 

 of defective nutrition among 2,538 pupils in two New York City schools are 

 given here. The basis upon which the need of care is determined varies among 

 physicians. Three methods for determining the condition of defective nutrition 

 are here compared. The weight and height measurements of each child were 

 taken and an experienced physician examined the pupils, classifying them into 

 four nutrition grades (1) superior condition, (2) passable, (3) border line, 

 and (4) very bad according to the Dunfermline scale. Some results of the 

 comparison are summarized below : 



"Among these 2,538 children the number assigned to care was greatest accord- 

 ing to the scale, second on the basis of weight-age, and least on that of weight- 

 height. With reference to sex and age the scale and the height-age basis 

 showed deterioration with increased age for the boys and the reverse con- 

 dition for the girls. The other two bases show deterioration in both sexes, 

 but this condition was much more marked among boys on the weight-age basis 

 and for girls on the weight-height basis. 



" The scale groups requiring cars would have been detected nearly twice as 

 well by the weight-age basis as by the weight-height. The weight-age groups 

 requiring care would have been detected nearly three times as well by the 

 scale as by the weight-height basis. The weight-height groups requiring care 

 would have been detected nearly half as well again by the scale as by the 

 weight-age basis. 



" The underheight group shows closest relation to the weight-age underweight 

 group — 91.9 per cent. Next in order comes those defective according to the 

 scale — 78.4 per cent — while only 13.5 per cent of those underheight are also 

 underweight for their height. 



" Even weight and even height decrease with age — more rapidly with the 

 boys than with the girls. Overweight and overheight increase more rapidly 

 with the girls than with the boys, and the girls of 14 show actually less under- 

 height than do those of 7. The girls increase slightly in underweight and the 

 boys increase in percentage of both underweight and height." 



It would seem from these data that any adequate system of diagnosis will 

 make use of the advantages of both weight relationships and points to the need 

 of careful study in order to work out a system of diagnosis. The Dunfermline 

 scale is an attempt in this direction. 



On the assumed destruction of trypsin by pepsin and acid. — III, Observa- 

 tions on men, J. H. Long and Mary Hull [Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc, 39 {1911), 

 No. 7, pp. 1493-1500) .—" The observations of this paper on the human subject 

 justify the conclusions reached in previous work performed in vitro and with 

 dogs ^ that under certain not unusual conditions trypsin may resist the action 

 of pepsin and acid in the animal stomach through a considerable period fol- 

 lowing the ingestion of the ferment. 



" It is evident that the action of this ingested trypsin is fully as pronounced, 

 in the quantities used, as is that which seems to be carried back to the stomach, 

 along with bile, by the regurgitation of duodenal fluid, but it can not be said 

 that either effect is very important physiologically. The ingestion of a few 



iJour. Amer. Chem. Soc, 38 (1916), No. 8, pp. 1620-1638; 39 (1917), No. 1, pp. 

 162-174. 



