306 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



cent of the preparation of commercial wheat embryo employed by us, 

 were enough for either growth or maintenance. 



So long as the diet of man is sufficiently varied to include enough 

 vitamine from sources other than the cereals, the milling question 

 need not awaken much concern from the vitamine standpoint; but 

 when the diet is restricted the danger of a shortage of vitamine may 

 become real if a large proportion of sugar, fat, or other products, low 

 in their content of water-soluble vitamine, are included in the ration. 



Work done under this grant was originally concerned with the 

 chemistry of the vegetable proteins, the ultimate object of which was 

 to acquire knowledge to guide us in the use of our various vegetable 

 food products as well as to shed hght on the part played by proteins 

 in nutrition. In the report for 1917 we pointed out how our investi- 

 gations had now reached the point where definite information should 

 next be obtained respecting the nutritive value of the total proteins 

 of the more important vegetable foods. It was then stated that such 

 investigations had been begun. This work has been continued and a 

 preliminary paper published.* Many technical difficulties have been 

 encountered in learning to make suitable preparations from starch- 

 containing seeds, but as these have been overcome we have now a series 

 of experiments in progress which it is hoped will show the relative 

 nutritive value of the total proteins of the more important cereal grains. 



In discussions of the nutritive value of the cereals these are com- 

 monly considered as representing the intact seed. In commerce, 

 however, the milling and other factory processes lead to partial dis- 

 integrations whereby are obtained diverse by-products frequently 

 representing distinct morphological portions of the seed. As we have 

 hitherto pointed out, such mill-products must no longer be assumed to 

 have a nutritive value strictly proportional to their analyzed content 

 of the proximate principles. The corn germ is one of these. Owing 

 to the recent extensive milling of corn for human consumption, large 

 quantities of corn germs are now on the market. Any information 

 which can be obtained which will make it possible to use this valuable 

 feeding stuff to the best advantage is therefore of importance. 



We have found that the corn germ contains proteins which are 

 superior in promoting growth to those found in the endosperm, but 

 inferior to those in the wheat embryo. When supplemented with a 

 small amount of meat or egg proteins corn germ is capable of inducing 

 very rapid growth. It is also rich in the water-soluble vitamine. 



At the present time, when legumes are being advocated as "meat 

 substitutes," it is desirable that as much as possible should be known 

 of their nutritive value. We have accordingly begun a study of these 

 important foods and have already confirmed our earlier limited experi- 



*Nutritive factors in plant tissues: I. The protein factor in the seeds of cereals. Jour. Biol. 

 Chem., XXXIV, 521, 1918. 



