NUTRITION — OSBORNE. 



215 



ride, and in most cases was obtained at once so pure that it showed the 

 correct melting-point and composition. Only products of ascertained purity- 

 were weighed, so that the results given in the following table maybe accepted 

 as minimal. We believe that they closely represent the full quantity of 

 glutaminic acid, though this, from the nature of the case, can not be posi- 

 tively demonstrated. 



Proportion of Glutaminic Acid Yielded by Various Proteins. 



VEGETABI^E PROTEINS. 



Cereals : _ Per c^i^t. 



Proteins soluble iu alcohol : 



Gliadin, wheat 37-33 



Gliadin, rye 33-81 



Hordein, barley 36.35 



Zein, maize 16.87 



Proteins soluble in water : 



Leucosin, wheat 5.72 



Proteins soluble in alkali : 



Glutenin 23.42 



Legumes : 



Proteins soluble in saline solutions : 

 Phaseolin, kidney bean. . . . 12.33 



Legumin, vetch 16.48 



Vignin, cow pea 16.89 



Glycinin, yellow soy bean.. 19.46 

 Glycinin, Japanese soy bean 17.92 

 Conglutin A, yellow lupine . 20. 96 



Legumes — Continued. Per cent. 



Proteins soluble in saline solutions — 

 Continued. 



Conglutin B, yellow lupine. 30.05 

 Conglutin, blue lupine. . . . 23.00 

 Oil seeds : 



Proteins soluble in saline solutions : 



Amandin, almonds 23.14 



Globulin, sunflower 21.79 



Corylin, hazelnut 17-94 



Globulin, castor bean 14-50 



Excelsin, Brazil nut 12.94 



Globulin, cotton seed 17.59 



Globulin, squash seed 12.35 



Edestin, hemp seed 14.00 



ANIMAI, PROTEINS. 



Casein, cow's milk 10.77 



Ovalbumin, hen's egg 9.01 



Conalbumin, hen's egg 7.00 



This table shows that the proteins of the cereals yield much more gluta- 

 minic acid than do any of the other groups, for, omitting leucosin, which is 

 present in the wheat kernel only in very small proportion and confined chiefly 

 to the embryo of the seed, the average yield of this acid was 29.5 per cent, 

 while the legumes yielded 19.6 per cent, the oil seeds 16.8 per cent, and the 

 three animal proteins 8.9 per cent. 



An examination of the literature up to the time this work was carried to 

 this point showed that such other animal proteins as had been examined had 

 yielded very small proportions of glutaminic acid, most of them less than 3 

 per cent. It seemed, therefore, that, as the proteins of the seed endosperm 

 as well as of milk and eggs yielded relatively large quantities of this amino- 

 acid, in contrast to the proteins of animal tissues, a distinction could be made 

 between \h^food proteins and the tissue proteins. 



With this idea in view, we undertook to determine the proportion of 

 glutaminic acid yielded by the muscle tissue of the ox and of the fish (halibut) , 

 the results of which have shown, however, that these tissues yield about the 

 same amount of this acid as did the three animal proteins which we had 

 already examined. 



