POODS — HUMAN NUTRITION. 659 



The nutritive value of boiled milk, Amy L. Daniels, Sylvia Stuessy, and 

 Emma Francis (Atner. Jour. Diseases Children, 11 (1916), No. 1, pp. 45~5^{, 

 figs. 8). — This paper reports a series of experiments in which laboratory ani- 

 mals (rats) which were just past the suckling period were fed millv that had 

 been boiled for 1 minute, 5 minutes, and 45 luinutes, respectively. Other rats 

 were fed pasteurized millj (heated to 83° C. by passing over heated drums, and 

 cooled immediately) ; another group was fed upon millc which had been sub- 

 jected to a temperature of 114° for 45 minutes in an autoclave ; and the group 

 serving as controls were fed upon raw milli:. In all the experiments the animals 

 were given all the milli they desired. Curves are given which show the rate of 

 growth of each group of animals. 



From the results of these experiments, which are reported in detail, the authors 

 conclude that " the milli heated to the boiling temperature or thereabouts is an 

 inadequate food. Rats fed on boiled milli grew to about half their normal size. 

 Although we have been able to keep these experimental animals for many 

 months on boiled milk, in no case have we got reproduction, nor have any of our 

 animals reached the normal weight for adult rats. 



" Milk which is kept at the boiling temperature for 45 minutes is no less effi- 

 cient as food than milk boiled for much shorter periods — 10 minutes or 1 min- 

 ute. The chemical changes which make heated milk an inadequate food are 

 brought about at the boiling temperature or thereabouts. The value of pasteur- 

 ized milk as a food, therefore, will depend on the temperature to which it is 

 heated during the pasteurization process. Heating milk to a higher temperature 

 than boiling (114°) makes it even less valuable as a food. 



" Although boiled cow's milk is an inadequate food for rats, it is apparently 

 better borne than raw or pasteurized cow's milk, for we have been unable to 

 raise young rats on either exclusively. However, rats fed both raw and pas- 

 teurized milk to which small amounts of meat extract were added grew at the 

 normal rate. The explanation of this lies, possibly, in the fact that the meat 

 extract caused an increase in the digestive secretions, thus making the milk 

 more available. 



"The advantage of using raw milk for infant feeding is obvious. When 

 babies are unable to digest raw cow's milk, however, or there is danger that the 

 milk may be contaminated, we believe tha^. the pediatrist is justified in using 

 boiled milk. When this is given, the mixture should have a higher protein 

 content than when raw milk is used." 



Gastro-intestinal studies. — XI, Studies on the relative digestibility and 

 utilization by the human body of lard and hydrogenated vegetable oil, 

 C. A. Smith, R. J. Miller, and P. B. Hawk (Jour. Biol. Chem., 23 {1915), No. 

 2, pp. 505-511). — Four digestion experiments with normal men are reported by 

 the authors, who studied the relative digestibility of lard (melting point 45° C.) 

 amd hydrogenated cotton-seed oil (melting point 36°). The experiments were 

 of eight days' duration, separated by an interval of three days when an ordi- 

 nary mixed diet was eaten. The basal ration consisted of shredded wheat, 

 meat, biscuits, potato chips, milk (in small quantity v-ith cereal), apple, sugar, 

 jelly, agar-agar, and water. 



It was found that the lard was 94.7 per cent and the hydrogenated vegetable 

 oil 93.35 per cent utilized. In the opinion of the authors, this difference may be 

 considered within the limits of accuracy of the experiment, from which it is 

 concluded that the two fats were equally well digested and utilized. 



The utilization of bones for food, G. Morpurgo {Osterr. Chem. Ztg., 18 

 {1915), No. 16, p. 139). — A description is given of a method for using bones for 

 food. The bones are ground and treated with dilute hydrochloric acid to remove 



