NUTRITION — OSBORNE. 205 



much ammonia and glutaminic acid, although zein does not yield as much of 

 the latter as some of the other proteins which are not soluble in alcohol. 



Another marked feature of these proteins is the very small amount of 

 arginine which they yield, which, in conjunction with the total absence of 

 lysine and the relatively small amount of histidine, makes the total amount 

 of these basic decomposition products extremely small in comparison with 

 the other proteins. The two proteins that appear most alike in this table are 

 those that are extracted by alcohol from rye and wheat flour. These are the 

 two seeds most nearly related botanically. The agreement between these 

 analyses is so close that in view of the character of the methods available 

 for the determinations, there is no ground for assuming that any differences 

 exist between these preparations. This is not the case for any two of the 

 other proteins thus far examined, for each is differentiated in one or more 

 ways from the others. It seems probable that this difference in the constitu- 

 tion of the food of the developing embryo of different seeds has a close con- 

 nection with the differences of the several species. Unfortunately, it does not 

 seem possible to isolate the part of the protein of rye and barley which is 

 insoluble in alcohol so that these may be compared with the corresponding 

 proteins of wheat and maize. As the table shows, this part of the protein of 

 the two latter seeds yields those decomposition products in notable quantity 

 which are lacking in the part soluble in alcohol. The glutenin of wheat yields 

 much less glutaminic acid than the gliadin and also less ammonia and more 

 bases, but the amount of the two former is large and of the latter small in 

 comparison with the other proteins, so that the constitution of the total 

 protein matter, as a whole, in this important food product differs widely from 

 that of all the other food products thus far studied. 



The proteins of the legumes in the table present no very marked feature, 

 for the proportion of the several decomposition products is more uniform 

 than that shown by most of the other proteins. Sufficient differences, how- 

 ever, exist between the three proteins analyzed to justify the conclusion, 

 already reached on other grounds, that these are distinctly different proteins. 



Grant No. 4jp ($5,000). — Work under this grant is being continued along 

 the same lines as under the previous grant, and it is expected that similar 

 analyses of the few remaining vegetable proteins will soon be completed. 

 The material for these analyses is ready for hydrolysis and the analyses will 

 be completed as soon as possible. Similar analyses will be made of some of 

 the more important animal food proteins, in order that a better comparison 

 can be made between the vegetable and animal food proteins than is now 

 possible. It is expected that substantial progress will be made with this work 

 during the present year. 



