358 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



ties which it will be most profitable to use for selection in order to obtain the 

 desired results." 



The baking quality and the bleaching of flour, J. F. Hoffmann ( Wchnschr. 

 Bran., 25 (1908), No. 7, pp. 108-110, fig. 1). — According to the author's con- 

 elusions, the physiological condition of the proteids, which influences in large 

 measure the germinating power and bread-making quality of grain, is depend- 

 ent upon the weather conditions under which the grain ripens. The baking 

 quality can be improved either by drying the grain or by the addition of malt 

 flour. Bleaching with chemical reagents, the author considers, does not per- 

 manently improve baking quality. 



Bread used by peasants, E. GRiJNER {Agr. Mod., IJf {1908), No. 6, pp. 11, 

 72). — Data are given regarding a bread made of corn meal and wheat, which 

 the author considers more satisfactory than the corn bread which is so com- 

 monly eaten in many regions in Italy. 



Breakfast foods, W. Feear {Penn. Dept. Agr. Bui. 162, pp. JfO). — The general 

 characteristics and chemical composition were determined of a number of sam- 

 ples of cereal breakfast foods and pancake flours on sale in Pennsylvania. 



The results obtained " show clearly that the materials used in preparing the 

 cereal breakfast foods are wholesome grains or some of their more valuable 

 products, and that the addition of bran, corncob, cornstalk, etc., sometimes 

 said to be used as adulterants, is purely imaginary. Furthermore, the sam- 

 ples exhibited a good condition of dryness, but many were wormy when 

 received. In general, they exhibited no evidence of the use of bleaching agents, 

 except in the case of a few pancake flours. 



" The test for tonic materials, such as strychnin, and also for morphiu, were 

 negative. On the other hand, the net weights contained in the packages were 

 most variable. The representations concerning the chemical composition and 

 nutritive value of the preparations were often very highly misleading, and 

 sometimes utterly reckless. 



" The cost of these foods was low if they are regarded as confections to 

 please the taste, but very high if they be treated as substitutes for the ordinary 

 domestic cereal products." 



Examination of a new preparation, " ice cream powder," F. Feeeari- 

 Lelli (Arch. Farmacol. Sper. e Sci. Aff., 7 (1908), No. 1, jrp. i-^.— The lee 

 cream powder examined, according to the author, contained oat and wheat 

 starch and Mars yellow. 



The proteins of rice, O. Rosenheim and S. Kajiuea (Jour. Physiol., 36 

 (1908), No. 6, pp. LIV, LV). — In a preliminary communication the authors 

 report studies of proteins of rice, the work being undertaken to determine 

 whether the presence or absence of certain proteins or their cleavage products 

 might possibly have any relation to the apparent fact that a diet mainly of rice 

 is a predisposing factor in the causation of beriberi. Rice globulin, rice 

 albumin, and a protein for which the name " oryzeuin " is proposed were the 

 bodies identified, the last-named representing the bulk of the rice proteins. It 

 is insoluble in water, salt solutions, and dilute alcohol, but is soluble in dilute 

 alkali (0.2 per cent potassium hydroxid) and is isolated by means of this sol- 

 vent. When dried it is in the form of a white powder and gives all the usual 

 protein color reactions. 



" The absence of any protein soluble in alcohol is a characteristic feature 

 of rice. . . . This fact obviously explains the vmsuitability of rice for bread 

 making, for both an alcohol-soluble protein (gliadin) and an alcohol-insoluble 

 protein (glutenin) appear to be necessary for the formation of gluten, the essen- 

 tial constituent of dough. All our attempts to obtain gluten from rice have 

 up to the present been unsuccessful. 



