RECENT WORK IN AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE. 



AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY— AGROTECKjri". 



Progress in the field of agricultural chemistry, A. Stutzeb (Chem. Ztg., 

 3Jf (1910), Nos. 133, pp. 1181, 1182; 13.',, pp. 1191, 1192).— This is a review of 

 the activities in agricultural chemistry during recent years. It considers plant 

 chemistry and physiology, the soil and its constituents, fertilizers and fer- 

 tilizing, and the physiology and nutrition of animals. A bibliography is in- 

 cluded. 



Man and the earth. — Man and plants, edited by PI. Kraemer (Der Mensch 

 und die Erde. — Der Mensch und die Pflanzen. Berlin, Leipsic, and Stuttgart, 

 1908, vol. fi, pp. XII+/fl',, pis. 48, fi(/s. 236).— Part 1 of this volume deals with 

 the general relation of plants to agriculture and horticulture. Part 2 takes up 

 the cultivation of technologically important plants, e. g., plants which yield 

 utilizable woods, fibers, coloring matters, fats and oils, wax, gums and resins, 

 rubber, cork, etc., and those which yield foods and condiments, such as flour, 

 sugar, fruits, nuts, spices, and fodder plants. Part 3 deals with the industrial 

 utilization of the various varieties of wood. Part 4 discusses the relation 

 of plant micro-organisms to man, including fermentation, preparation of 

 alcoholic drinks, technologically important micro-organisms, micro-organisms 

 of interest to agriculture, micro-organisms relating to the conservation of foods 

 and vegetables, and the micro-organisms in the dairy. Part 5 notes the plant 

 condiments, such as cofCee, cocoa and chocolate, cola, spices, tobacco, Indian 

 hemp, opium, and alcohol. Particular stress is laid in this volume on the 

 chemical-technological processes involved. 



On the refractive indices of certain proteins. — III, Serum, globulin, T. B. 

 Robertson (Jour. Biol. Chem., 8 (1910), No. 6, pp. Jf.'fl-JtJi8). — "The value of a 



in the equation -.=a, where n is the refractive index of the solution of the 



e 



protein, ivl that of the solvent, and c is the percentage concentration of the 

 protein, has been determined for solutions of ' insoluble ' serum globulin in 

 fortieth-normal aqueous potassium hydroxid, fortieth normal aqueous hydro- 

 chloric acid, fortieth-normal potassium hydroxid in 25 per cent and in 50 per 

 cent alcohol, and fortieth-normal potassium hydroxid in 25 per cent and in 50 

 per cent acetone. 



" The value of a for ' insoluble ' serum globulin dissolved in acid or alkaline 

 water is 0.00229 ; this is, within the experimental error, identical with the value 

 of a (0.00230) determined by Reiss for ' Pseudoglobulin II.' 



" The value of a for insoluble serum globulin dissolved in alkaline 25 per cent 

 alcohol is constant for the range of globulin concentrations employed and is 

 0.00202. 



" The value of a for insoluble serum globulin dissolved in alkaline 50 per cent 

 alcohol is 0.00119. 



" The value of a for insoluble serum globulin dissolved in alkaline 25 per 

 cent acetone is constant for the range of globulin concentrations employed and 

 is, within the experimental error, identical with its value in water. 



93315°— No. 7—11 2 607 



