286 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



not utilized to the same extent as those of animal origin. The degree of utilization 

 is somewhat, although only slightly, increased by long cooking. Rolling oul into 



thin Hakes, as in the rolled oats, also appears to have some effect; hut oats thus 

 treated yield nearly as much fecal nitrogen as the others. 



The technical process employed in the preparation of the malted oats seems to 

 favor utilization, and this may be explained by their partial hydration. En one of 

 the tests the extracted vegetable proteid was found to be as well utilized as the 

 animal proteids. In the other test the agreement was less marked. In the former 

 case the large amount of starch presumably kept the proteid particles from drying 

 together into a comparatively impervious mass. "There is, consequently, no evi- 

 dence from these experiments to indicate that the oat proteid, per se, is less readily 

 utilized than is that of lean meat. This corresponds with the- experience gained 

 from feeding the vegetable proteid, edestin. . . . 



"It maybe objected that the presence of the milk [as part of the diet] . . . 

 vitiates the conclusions derived from these trials. In all the experiments with dogs 

 (except with zein feeding), the proportion of milk to the proteid studied was con- 

 stant, and of the latter the same amount was used whenever practicable. Hence it 

 is believed that the figures represent fairly the comparative degree to which the 

 animals utilized the proteid. 



"The greater fecal nitrogen from zein is probably not due so much to its being 

 less digestible as to the insolubility of the substance and the inability of the digestive 

 enzyms to act vigorously, except upon the surface of the impervious masses. When 

 the zein was thoroughly dried its utilization was still further lessened. There is no 

 reason to doubt that if the zein could be freed from the materials with which it is 

 associated, except the starch, its utilization would be increased. The facilitating 

 effect of the presence of starch was shown with the oat proteid in [one of the tests]. 

 The achievement of means for removing the substances which interfere with diges- 

 tion is worthy of study." 



Absorption of diets rich in protein and fat and poor in protein and fat, 

 J. Konig (Z/s<-lir. Untersuch. Nahr. n. Genussmtl., 7 (1904), No. 9, pp. 529-545) . — 

 Experiments on the digestibility by healthy men of a diet rich in protein and fat 

 were carried on in cooperation with F. Reinhardt. The foods especially studied were 

 young peas, ripe peas, purple cabbage, string beans, coarse rye bread, and Graham 

 bread. They were combined with other foods to form a simple mixed diet of the 

 character indicated. 



It was found that the protein of purple cabbage, string beans, and coarse rye 

 bread was not well assimilated, a larger part of the nitrogenous material of such food 

 being excreted in the feces than was the case with wheat bread and shelled legumes. 

 The crude fiber found in the feces contained more carbon than that contained in the 

 food, which, in the author's opinion, shows that the crude fiber with low carbon 

 content was generally digested, while the bodies having a high carbon content, such 

 as lignin, accumulated in the feces in fairly large amounts. The digestibility of pen- 

 tosans in these experiments has been noted from another publication (E. S. R., 13, 

 p. 877). 



Experiments on the digestibility of a diet with limited amounts of protein and fat 

 were carried on in cooperation with Pollitz and H. Romberg. The results showed 

 that when the diet contained meat and considerable fat, much less protein and fat 

 was excreted in the feces than was the case with a diet containing limited amounts 

 of protein (meat) and fat. The nitrogen-free extract was about equally digestible in 

 the 2 cases, while pentosans and crude fiber were less digestible when small amounts 

 of protein and fat were consumed. 



Concerning phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium metabolism in adult 

 man, R. Renvall (Skand. Arch. Physiol, 16 (1904), No. 12, pp. 94-138, pi. 1).— The 

 author, who was 22 years old, was himself the subject of the tests reported on the 



