1916] FOODS HUMAN NUTRITION. 265 



such eggs are allowed to remain in nests under broody hens or in warm storage 

 places for comparatively few hours they contain large numbers of the 

 organism. 



" Soft boiling, coddling, and frying on one side only do not necessarily render 

 the yolks free from viable bacteria; therefore eggs which have gone through 

 these processes may, like raw eggs, be the cause of serious disturbances in per- 

 sons who are particularly susceptible to such influences, and especially in 

 infants. That no well-authenticated instances of egg poisoning of this kind are 

 on record does not warrant the assumption that there have been no cases. The 

 etiology of infantile stomach and intestinal disturbances is as yet too little 

 understood ; in fact, it may be said that many of these disorders have no known 

 cause, and almost as much may be said regarding gastro-intestinal diseases in 

 later life. Furthermore, since the ailments caused by infected eggs would not 

 make themselves felt, presumably, until several days after their ingestion, little 

 or no suspicion would fall upon the eggs. It may be said, too, that the wide dis- 

 tribution of ovarian infection in the domestic fowl has come about only in the 

 last few years, hence its possible danger to man is one of recent development." 



Turning green of oysters and their content of heavy metals, F. Liebert 

 (Chem. Weekhl., 12 {1915), No. U^ pp. 978-983).— A summary and digest of data 

 concerning the causes of the green color of certain varieties of oysters. In 

 some cases the color is said to be due to algse and in others to a high copper 

 content. 



[Milling' and baking tests of wheat] {North Dakota Sta., Rpt. Dickinson 

 SuJjsta., 1913, pp. 20-22). — A brief report is made of the results of milling and 

 baking tests made upon 8 samples of wheat. 



A study of certain conditions which affect the activity of proteolytic 

 enzyms in wheat flour, C. O. Swan son and E. L. Tagtxe {Jour. Amer. Chem. 

 Soc, 38 {1916), No. 5, pp. 1098-1109).— The experiments here reported were 

 carried out in continuation of previous work (E. S. R., 30, p. 164), and were 

 designed to study the effects of a number of conditions on the activity of 

 proteolytic enzyms in wheat flour, especially the effects of the inorganic com- 

 pounds, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, potassium orthophosphate, potassium 

 hydroiid, potassium sulphid, ammonium chlorid, calcium chlorid, and hydro- 

 chloric acid, and the organic substances, dried egg albumin, egg albumin digested 

 in water at different temperatures, and casein. Descriptions are given of the 

 method used, which was that of titration with formol to determine the amount 

 of amino nitrogen present in the flour and as a means of measuring the protein 

 cleavage due to proteolytic enzyms present. 



Of the various salts tried, ammonium chlorid and calcium chlorid had the 

 greatest accelerating effect on the rate of protein cleavage. " The proteolytic 

 enzyms present in wheat flour caused a more rapid hydrolysis of the proteins 

 when desiccated egg albumin was present, but not when casein was used." 



The nature of the dietary deficiencies of the wheat embryo, E. V. McCol- 

 LTJM, Nina Simmonds, and W. Pitz {Jour. Biol. Chem., 25 {1916), No. 1, pp. 

 105-131, figs. 19). — The authors refer to earlier work, especially that reviewed 

 (E. S. R., 33, p. 666; 34, pp. 367, 368; 35, p. 166), and discuss the results of 

 these earlier investigations briefly, in so far as they bear on human nutrition. 

 The method pursued in the work by the authors is based on the following line 

 of reasoning : " If a single natural food product fails to nourish an animal 

 adequately, it may be due to (a) lack of suflicient protein or to proteins of poor 

 quality; (b) an unsatisfactory mineral content due either to inadequacy of 

 certain elements in amount, or to unsatisfactory proportions among them; (c) 

 an inadequate supply of the fat-soluble A; (d) of the water-soluble B; (e) 



