668 * EXPERIMENT STATION" EECORD. [Vol.43 



The case reports presented showed that the administration to cases of pellagra 

 of the preparations from yeast and rice polishings, over a considerable period 

 of time and in large amounts, in general failed to modify the course of the dis- 

 ease, while the administration of the liver and thymus preparations was fol- 

 lowed by a rapid improvement in the condition of the patients apparently com- 

 parable to that produced by a diet rich in fresh animal proteins. 



" The evidence presented clearly indicates that the dietary defect responsible 

 for pellagra is distinctly (qualitatively) different from and perhaps more com- 

 plex than the one causing fowl polyneuritis and human beriberi." 



II. The chemical composition of the Wood of pellof/rins, by R. C. Lewis (pp. 

 37-44). — Quantitative chemical analyses of the blood of a number of pellagrins 

 for total nonprotein nitrogen, urea, sugar, chlorids, sodium, potassium, calcium, 

 and magnesium are reported. With the exception of low total nonprotein 

 nitrogen and urea figures for one group of patients on a comparatively low 

 protein diet, no variations from the normal were found. 



III. The amino acid fractions and hippuric acid in the urine of pellagrins, by 

 J. R. Murlin (pp. 45-72). — The author discusses several conditions suggestive 

 of possible metabolic alterations which are characteristic of pellagra, and points 

 out that imperfect gastric digestion, which is characteristic of a large number 

 of cases of pellagra, might lead to imperfect assimilation of protein material 

 with the formation of toxic products such as the precursors of hippuric acid. 

 The experimental work reported consisted of the quantitative analysis of the 

 urines of pellagrous patients on low and high protein diets for amino acids, 

 peptid-bound nitrogen, and hippuric acid. 



Taking as normal the limits arrived at from a study of the literature, all of 

 the results obtained were considered normal with the exception of hippuric 

 acid the amount of which, especially as excreted by pellagrins on a corn- 

 vegetable diet, was from two to three times the quantity excreted by normal 

 men on a general mixed diet. " The question may be raised whether this does 

 not denote an intestinal condition capable of producing toxins which may have 

 far-reaching somatic effects." 



IV. The occurrence of pellagra in nursing infants, with observations on the 

 chemical composition of the human milk from pellagrous mothers, by C. Voegt- 

 lin and R. H. Harris (pp. 73-100). — The literature on the occurrence of pellagra 

 in nursing infants is reviewed, a report is given of pellagra in a nursing infant 

 of a nonpellagrous mother, analyses are given of the milk obtained from 

 pellagrins, and several possible explanations for the occurrence of pellagra in 

 breast-fed infants are suggested. 



The chemical analysis of the milk from five cases of uncomplicated pellagra 

 showed no striking abnormalities. Lactose, fat, total nitrogen, and total solids 

 were below the average but within normal limits ; the total ash and phosphoric 

 anhydrid were normal ; chlorin and sodium were higher than normal ; and 

 calcium, magnesium, and potassium were slightly below the normal. No obser- 

 vations were made on the vitamin content of the milk. The vitamin theory 

 is, however, considered to be the most plausible explanation of the occurrence 

 of pellagra in breast-fed infants. 



ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 



The tabulation of factorial values, C. Zeleny (Amer. Nat., 5/f (1020), No. 

 633, pp. 358-362, figs. 2). — The author suggests a statistical device for use in 

 the study of the inheritance of quantitative characters where factors produce 

 changes in an organ in proportion to its size. Class ranges are not kept uniform 

 but are made to include a uniform number of factorial units, i. e., the class 



