FOODS HUMAN NUTRITION. 365 



Sugar in the ration during- military maneuvers, Joly (Arch. Med. et Pharm. 

 Mil., .',9 {1901), p. 2J,1; ahs. in Ilyg. ZenthJ., 3 {1908), No. 21, pp. 674, 675).— For 

 o weeks GO to 165 gni. of sugar replaced half of the meat ration of 2 companies 

 of French soldiers. The sugar was taken readily in wine, water, or coffee and 

 no digestive disturbances were noted. Five soldiers for 3 days took a larger 

 amount of sugar, namely, 300 gm., in the place of the entire meat ration. In the 

 author's opinion, the men were in better physical condition and had more en- 

 durance than on their ordinary ration. 



Cleavag-e in metabolism, Pxjtter {Med. Naturic. Arch., vol. 1, No. 1, p. 61; 

 o?AS. in Zcnthl. Physiol., 21 {1908), No. 2 J,, pp. 815, S/6).— According to the 

 author's deductions, the oxidation processes play a smaller part and aujBrobic 

 cleavage processes a much greater part in metabolism in the animal body than 

 is ordinarily supposed. 



Concerning the extractives of muscular tissue. IX, The constitution of 

 carnitin, R. Krimberg {Ztschr. Physiol. Chem., 53 {1907), No. 6, pp. 51 4- 

 525). — According to the author, carnitin is a 7-trimethyl-oxy-butyro-betain. 



For earlier work see a previous note (E. S. R., IS, p. 9G0). 



Creatin and creatinin, E. Mellanby {Jour. Physiol., 36 {1908), No. 6, pp. 

 447— '(87, figs. 3). — Methods of estimation, the stability of creatin in muscles, 

 the effect of glycocyamin feeding on the creatin in chickens' muscle, the effects 

 of creatin and creatinin on the percentage of creatin in muscles, and other ques- 

 tions were considered in connection with the investigations reported. 



According to the author's conclusions, the muscle plays a small part in the 

 formation of creatinin, while the liver is intimately connected with the produc- 

 tion of creatin and the excretion of creatinin. He believes that muscle creatin 

 is formed from creatinin, the principal reasons for this opinion being that " the 

 feeding experiments on young chickens yield some slight evidence that food 

 creatinin can be changed to creatin and stored. In no physiological experiment 

 in this research has creatin ever been changed to creatinin. Creatinin is not 

 excreted by chickens until about a week after hatching, i. e., not until the 

 muscles are saturated with creatin. . . . 



" The change from creatinin to creatin is from every point of view more 

 likely than the change from creatin to creatinin. From a chemical considera- 

 tion it is more probable that the ring formation of creatinin comes direct from 

 a tissue breakdown, and that this ring is then hydrated to a creatin chain by 

 muscle, rather than that the creatin chain is dehydx'ated to form the creatinin 

 ring. 



" From a physiological point of view it can not be thought that tissues would 

 make an innocuous neutral substance like creatin into a strongly basic sub- 

 stance like creatinin. Such a change would be contrary to all that is known of 

 the changes undergone by chemical substances in the organism." 



Studies of the cholesterin group, A. Menozzi {Atti. R. Accad. Lineei, Rend. 

 CI. ^ci. Fis., Mat. e Nat., 5. ser., 17 {1908), I, No. 3, pp. .9^-9// ) .—Chemical 

 studies of cholesterin from hens' eggs led to the conclusion that it is identical 

 with the cholesterin of bile. 



Body temperature and periodicity, W. A. Osborne {Jour. Physiol., 36 

 (1908), No. 6, pp. XXXIX-XLI).—The body temperature records kept on a 

 journey from Melbourne to London, which the author presents, tend to prove, 

 in his opinion, that the time of evening maximum takes place with regard to 

 local time and not the time of the starting point. " They do not, however, dis- 

 prove the existence of body periodicity nor prove that the evening maximum is 

 determined solely by the hours of sleep, the activities of the day and the diur- 

 nal variations of light and heat, for a true periodicity might have beeu present 



