64 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.43 



daily was sufficient to prevent scurvy in guinea pigs on a basal ration of oats, 

 hay, and water. The dried spinach proved to have no antiscorbutic properties. 

 " The reason for this difference is not obvious ; but it may be that the anti- 

 scorbutic principle is very susceptible to desiccation and the delicate structure 

 of the leaves of the plant does not afford so much protection to the contained 

 vitamin as in the case of the more coarsely constructed vegetables." 



Attention is called to the work of Givens and Cohen on the antiscorbutic 

 property of desiccated vegetables (E. S. R., 40, p. 172), and it is pointed out 

 that the "low dried" products are comparable to the sun-dried products which 

 have been the subject of this study. 



Directions for cooking the sun-dried vegetables and a table of their percentage 

 composition are appended. 



The use of apples and pears in bread making, H. MohorCiC {Arch. Hyg., 

 88 (1918), No 1-2, pp. 56-89). — The literature on flour substitutes and on the 

 nutritive value of fruits is reviewed, and a study is reported of the digesti- 

 bility and food value of the so-called apple bread and pear bread made by a 

 patented process involving the substitution of a considerable amount of these 

 fruits for flour. 



It was found possible to effect a saving of more than 15.28 per cent with 

 the apple bread and 27.07 per cent with the pear bread. The absorption of 

 the latter bread was similar to that of pumpernickel, and slightly less than 

 that of the apple bread, which is recommended as a valuable war bread. 



A list of 77 references to the literature is appended. 



The use of horse-chestnuts as a flour substitute, W. Prausnitz (Arch. 

 Hyg.., 88 (1918), No. 1-2, pp. 49-55). — By washing ground horse-chestnuts with 

 cold water a saponin-free product consisting largely of starch was obtained 

 which is recommended as a flour substitute. Bread made from equal jwrtions 

 of horse-cliestnut flour and wheat flour with a small amount of rice and fat 

 proveil palatable and easily digested. 



On the digestibility of cocoa butter, I, J. A. Gardner and P. AV. Fox 

 (Biochem. Jour., 13 (1919), No. 4, pp. 3^8^77).— Attention is called to the in- 

 vestigations of Langworthy and Holmes on the digestibility of vegetable fats, 

 including cocoa butter (E. S. R., 36, p. 860), and similar digestion experiments 

 with cocoa butter are reported. In place of using the basal ration employed 

 by these authors, the simple mixed diet used in the experiments of the Food 

 Committee of the Royal Society on the digestibility of breads (E. S. R., 40, p. 

 657) was adopted as being more palatable and less likely to become distasteful. 

 Cocoa butter was substituted for the butter of the original diet. Three sub- 

 jects were used, and the experiment continued over a period of 10 days. In 

 addition to determining the coefficients of digestibility in the customary way 

 by taking the total ether extract of the feces to represent the actual quantity of 

 undigested fat, the feces were subjected to a detailed analysis for true fat, free 

 fatty acids, and fatty acids in the form of soap. 



The coefficients of digestibility as determined from these figures were some- 

 what lower than when the total ether extract was used as representing the fat, 

 the averages being 93.21 and 94.14 per cent, respectively. All of the subjects 

 found the cocoa butter palatable, and no apparent digestive trouble was noted. 

 In later quantitative experiments three out of four subjects consumed large 

 quantities of the cocoa butter with no undesirable physiological disturbances. 



The authors conclude that, while cocoa butter is rather less digestible than 

 butter, it is satisfactorily utilizecl, and could be used with safety as a supple- 

 mentary source of fat. 



The utilization of yeast by the animal organism, W. Voltz (Biochem. 

 Ztschr., 93 (1919), No. 1-2, pp. 101-105; abs. in Cheiii. Ahs., 13 (1919), No. 17, 



