FOODS HUMAN NUTRITION. 269 



gluten, of which the nitrogenous pai't consists chiefly of a particular individual 

 protein. After fasting for 2 days, the subject of the experiments was given a 

 stand.'ird diet furnishing a normal amount of protein consisting of the par- 

 ticular food studied for 5 days. During the first 2 days of the period the 

 amount of food was 50 per cent more than that given during the following 3 

 days. 



All of the proteins were found to be more completely utilized during the 

 period of high diet following the fasting period than during the 3 days of 

 normal diet. Meat and glidin were obf^erved to have the highest ulilization 

 values. During the periods of 5 days gi-eater gains in nitrogen were made upon 

 proteins of animal origin (milk and meat) than upon those of vegetable origin 

 (gluten and glidin). That the utilization value of a food is not always a cor- 

 rect index of its efliciency is sho'O'ii in the case of meat and glidin. As far as 

 digestion and assimilation were concerned, they were equal in value, but meat 

 .vielded a gain in nitrogen of 11.3 gm. whereas glidin showed a loss of 1.3 gm. 

 during the period of 5 djiys. 



Fatty acid esters of glucose, W. R. Bloor (Orig. Comrnun. S. Internat. Cong. 

 AppL Chem. [Wa.shingi07i and Nciv York], 19 (1912), Sect. Vllld, pp. 29-36).— 

 A prelin)inary report of the preparation of the glucose esters of lauric, butyric, 

 and stearic acids, and of animal experimentation with them with a view of 

 obtaining further knowledge regarding the relationship of fats and carbohydrates 

 in metabolism. 



The esters were found to be quite well utilized in the intestine in feeding 

 experiments, but when injected into the peritoneal cavity and the veins they 

 were injurious. 



Comparative studies of the pharmacological effects of the organic com- 

 pounds of sulpliurous acid and of neutral sodium sulphite, II, E. Rost and 

 F. Fkanz (Arb. K. GsruUitsamt., JfS (1012), 2\'o. 2, pp- 187-303, figs. 10).— The 

 authors review previous work published by them (E. S. R., 16, p. 901) and 

 present the results of further experiments regarding the fate in the body of 

 sulphurous acid, sulphites, and the organic compounds of sulphurous acid, their 

 mode of action, and the theory of their poisonous effect. 



After introduction into the body the compounds of sulphurous acid undergo 

 such a rapid oxidation that the tracing of the individual steps in this change 

 is impos.sible. Sulphites and the orgjinic compounds of sulphurous acid are 

 oxidized quickly to sulphates in which form they are excreted in the urine, and 

 even after the introduction of large amounts of these substances into the body 

 not more than 1 per cent of the material introduced could be recovered from 

 the urine as sulphite even during the first i-hour period after introduction. 

 The effects of the sulphurous acid, its organic salts, and sulphites are the same 

 and the poisonous action of the salts depends on the degree to which they are 

 broken down, into fi'ee sulphurous acid in the body. The theory of the poisonous 

 action of these compounds was not accurately determined, but it did not 

 resemble either the action of a typical reducing agent or of a true acid. 



Unbalanced nutrition. — Fermentative processes in cereals and diseases 

 arising from them, J. H. F. Kohlbrugge (Sitsber. Naltirhist. Ve*\ Preuss. 

 Rheinlande u. Westfalens, 1911, Nos. 1, Sect. A, pp. /fO, //<>; 2, Sect. A, pp. 

 47-63). — The author reports the results of experiments upon the bacterial 

 fermentation of rice and its relation to beri-beri in fowls, which in his opinion 

 indicate that beriberi is probably due to bacterial fermentation of the large 

 amounts of rice or other cereals eaten in unbalanced diets. The importance of 

 bacterial fermentation in the intestine as a possible cause of a number of 

 diseases arising from eating foods consisting almost entirely of carbohydrate is 

 suggested, and the action of acids and acid-forming bacteria and the value of 



