778 EXPEEIMENT STATION EECORD. 



8turc-li yields, when subjected to German tests, about 50 to nn per cent. The 

 method of determiuation uow used in Germany is described in detail. It is 

 known as the diastase method and was first described in the fifth edition of 

 Max Maercker's Haudbuch des Spiritusfabrikatiou, in 1908. 



Gluten feeds — artificially colored, E. Gudeman {Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc, 30 

 (190S), Jo. 10, pp. 1623-1626). — Examinations made during the past year of 

 90 samples of gluten feeds have shown that 68 samples, or over 75 per cent of 

 those examined, have contained added coloring matter. "Of 6 samples received 

 direct from manufacturers, only 1 showed a very slight amount of added 

 color. 



" Examinations made on different kinds of corn, ranging from white to dark 

 red, and on the component parts of corn (bran, germ, and gluten), in all cases 

 gave negative results for added color, tested under like conditions with the 

 gluten feeds. The evaporated steep-water often gives a faint color x-eaction, 

 similar to caramel (sugar) coloring, on the first wool samples. . . . 



" The purpose of adding color to gluten feeds is only for deception, to make 

 them appear better than they really are or to hide some inferiority, such as the 

 use of rotten, burnt, or fermented corn." 



The methods of examination are described in detail. 



Cyclopedia of American agriculture. — Anim^als, L. H. Bailey et al. (Neio 

 York, 1908, voJ. 3, pp. XVI +708, pis. 25, flgs. 681).— As in the first two volumes 

 of this cyclopedia (E. S. R., 18, p. 1088; 19, p. 733) the various topics are 

 written by specialists. 



This third volume is divided into three parts. Part 1, the animal and its 

 relations, treats of the domestication, breeding, feeding, exhibiting and market- 

 ing of animals, the physiology of the animal body, diseases and management, 

 and wild life in its relation to farming. Part 2 treats of dairy products, meat 

 and meat products, including the tanning of hides, and an account of the 

 leather industry. Part 3 takes up at length the North American farm animals, 

 and discusses the origin and characteristics of the various breeds of live stock 

 uow found in the L'nited States and Canada. 



Heredity, J. A. Thomson (London, 1908, pp. XVI-i-605, pis. 15, figs. 3-'i).— 

 This book, which is intended as an introduction to the study of heredity, 

 includes 14 chapters, a representative bibliography of 48 pages arranged in 

 alphabetical order, and a 20-page subject index to the bibliography. The 

 subject is c6nsidei-ed under the following chapter headings : Heredity and 

 inheritance, defined and illustrated; the physical basis of inheritance: heredity 

 and variation ; common modes of inheritance ; reversion and allied phenomena ; 

 telegony and other disputed questions ; the transmission of acquired characters ; 

 heredity and disease; statistical study of inheritance; experimental study of 

 inheritance; history of theories of heredity and inheritance: heredity and 

 development: heredity and sex; and social aspects of biological results. 



Inbreeding, Mendelisni, and the elucidation of live stock history, J. Wil- 

 son (Irish Nat., 11 (1908), iSlo. 11, pp. 2Ji3, 2//-',).— This is an abstract ofl a 

 paper read at the Dublin meeting of the British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science. 



The author emphasizes the advantages of inbreeding, and cites the deer as 

 an example in nature. " The strongest male retains command of a flock until 

 he is ousted by some other animal, who is in all probability a younger brother 

 or a son of the previous master male." The various theories of the origin 

 of the Dexter breed of cattle are reviewed and discarded. " Mendelisni shows 

 clearly that the Dexter is a hybrid breed, the original races being a slender 

 black race and a stout red one like the Devon breed of cattle. . . . IMendelism is 

 evidently going to be of great service to the historian of live stock." 



