170 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



standards should not be lowered. He believes that protein in generous amounts 

 is required on iiccount of the mineral matter which is bound up with it and on 

 account of the stimulating and similar specific bodies which are formed from 

 protein by cleavage and are essential to body well-being and resistance to dis- 

 ease. Furthermore, he believes that the whole question of proteid metabolism 

 is not yet suHiciently understood to warrant final deductions. 



A contribution to the study of calcium metabolism, S. W. Patterson (Blo- 

 Chem. Jour., S (1908), No. 1-2, pp. 39-5'/). — In experiments in which rabbits 

 were fed on oatmeal and coi-n meal, a diet which leads to calcium starvation, 

 the ratio of calcium in the blood to total ash in the blood remained much the 

 same as in a normal animal. The ratio of calcium to total mineral matter in 

 the bones was, however, not constant and showed fairly wide fluctuations even 

 in the normal animal. As the author points out, it has been frequently shown 

 that bones lose calcium when the animal is placed on a diet poor in this con- 

 stituent. The results which he obtained, however, tend to show " that the 

 bones can lose calcium relatively to the other salts, that is, by a selective 

 autolysis and not by an autolysis of bone in mass." 



The results of experiments in which he was himself the subject showed that 

 calcium can be readily stored during nitrogen retention. " More interesting, 

 however, are the experiments with rectal feeding, where calcium was stored 

 despite a continuous drainage of nitrogen from the body. In the latter case, 

 as the proteid absorbed from the food was insufficient, the muscles and glands 

 must have been diminishing in bulk, and yet calcium was retained. This fact 

 rather i)oints to the bones as the seat, in this case, of calcium storage." On a 

 fixed diet the renal excretion of calcium varied only slightly, the variations 

 being parallel with the total amounts of urine excreted. 



Studies of the importance of calcium salts for the growing body, H, Aeon 

 and R. Sebaueb (Biochem. Ztschr., 8 (1908), No. 1, pp. 1-28, pi. 1, dgms. 2). — 

 According to the authors' conclusions, the calcium requii'ement of young and 

 growing animals is equivalent to at least 1.2 per cent of the gains in body 

 weight. Judging by the results of the experiments, which were made with 

 small animals (rabbits and dogs), a deficiency of food calcium does not affect 

 body weight or growth in general provided the deficiency is not too great. 

 The ill effects of such a deficiency are confined almost exclusively to the 

 skeletal system and resemble clinically and anatomically the pathological con- 

 ditions noted in rickets. Chemical analyses showed that such bones had 

 normal weight but contained a larger proportion of water and less dry matter 

 than normal bones and that the dry matter was deficient in mineral constitu- 

 ents. It was apparent, therefore, that deficiency in food calcium caused the 

 formation of bones with an excess of water and with organic material 

 insufficiently calcified. 



The influence of surrounding temperature on carbon dioxid output in sub- 

 jects at rest without clothing, J. Ignatius, L. Lund, and O. Warri (SkaHd. 

 Arch. Physiol., 20 (1908), No. 3-J,, pp. 2;?fj;-232 ) .—According to the investiga- 

 tions reported with subjects at rest without clothing, combustion in the body 

 showed a tendency to diminish when the surrounding temperature was moderately 

 high, 31 to 32° C, but the decrease was neither vei'y large nor very marked. 

 The minimum carbon dioxid output was noted at a certain temperature, 26.1 

 to 29.4°, and increased when the temperature of the surrounding air was lower 

 or higher. 



Concerning the role of powdered meat, P. Lassabliere (Compt. Rend. Soc. 

 Biol. [Paris], 67/ (1908), No. '/, pp. 180-182). — Experiments are reported in con- 

 tinuation of earlier work (E. S. R., 19, p. .3.58), and the author concludes that 

 powdered meat acts as a digestive stimulant, though he believes it is valueless 



