170 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. LYol. 41 



the Bureau of Chemistry of the U. S. Department of Agriculture is reported 

 of the toxin production of a strain of Bacillus botulinus under unfavorable 

 conditions, such as might occur within and without the animal body in nature. 



The organism, Isolated from cottage cheese that had caused an epidemic 

 diagnosed post-mortem as botulism, was found to be a distinct variety of the 

 B. botulinus of van Ermengem, differing from it in the following particulars : 

 It is more toxic for rabbits and less toxic for cats. It grows and produces toxin 

 at 37° C. and in sugar-free media of acidity of +3. It does not lose its ability 

 to produce toxin after being exposed to light for two and one-half months 

 and being dried on paper for 22 days. In symbiosis with a yeast it can be 

 cultivated aerobically on agar slants. Grown with B. coli and a yeast in 

 milk or with Micrococcus aureus in extract broth at 38 to 39° under aerobic 

 conditions it produces death when ingested by a rabbit. 



It is thought that the toxin produced under certain conditions by this strain 

 might cause death by embolus or hemorrhage in the brain, accompanied by but 

 few preliminary symptoms of a minor character, but that there always remains 

 the possibility of the organism growing in the body and producing its toxin 

 slowly and under altered conditions, thereby causing a dilTerent syndrome 

 from that seen when the toxin is ingested. The author is of the opinion that 

 some cases of forage poisoning may be due to certain strains of B. botulinus. 



Digestibility of some by-product oils, A. D. Holmes (U. S. Dcpt. Ayr. Bui. 

 181 {1919), pp. 16). — This continues the experimental study of digestibility of 

 vegetable fats and oils previously noted (E. S. R., 39, p. 591). Digestion ex- 

 periments were made with six oils, all by-products of considerable interest in 

 connection with the oil industry in generaL 



The coefficients of digestibility of the oils are given as 98.4 per cent for 

 apricot-kernel oil, 98 per cent for cherry-kernel oil, 98.2 per cent for melon- 

 ( cantaloup) seed oil, 96.6 per cent for peach-kernel oil, 98.2 per cent for pump- 

 kin-seed oil, and 95.8 per cent for tomato-seed oil. This indicates that these 

 oils are very well assimilated by the body and possess a nutritive value equal 

 to that of other better-known edible oils, such as cottonseed, corn, peanut, 

 coconut, soy bean, and olive oils. In general tlie experiments indicate that 

 as far as tolerance and assimilation are concerned all six of these oils, which 

 at present are practically unutilized, are wholesome, nutritious foods, and 

 should prove sati.sfactory for edible purposes. 



The twenty-third report on food products and the eleventh report on drug 

 products, 1918, E. M. Bailey (Connecticut State Sta. Bui. 210 (1919), pp. 

 177-242). — In addition to a number of pi'oprietary remedies, toilet prepara- 

 tions, and other drugs, the following food products were examined and results 

 discussed: Tea, fats and oils (cooking fats, olive oil, butter, oleomargarin, and 

 nut margarin), cereal products (substitute flours, breakfast foods, and health 

 foods, etc.), fruit juices, carbonated beverages, dried eggs and egg substitutes, 

 milk, cream, sausage, vinegar, wine, nonalcoholic beverages, and sirups. A 

 number of foods were also tested for the presence of saccharin, suspected 

 injurious foreign substances, etc. 



" Forty-four samples of market teas, mostly of cheaper grades, have been 

 examined. . . . Hot water extract exceeds 40 per cent in 7 cases and exceeds 

 35 per cent in 43 cases of the total of 44. Ether extract is lower in black 

 tea than in green tea, as would be expected from the fact that chlorophyll, 

 which comprises a large portion of such extract, is largely destroyed in the 

 process by wliich black tea is made." 



In discu.s.sing the results of the examination of margarins and nut margarins, 

 it is stated that '* nut margarins differ from oleomargarin in that they do not 



