162 Kansas Academy of Science. 



THE RELATION BETWEEN THE QUANTITIES OF TIN 

 AND HYDROGEN IN "SPRINGERS." 



Walter S. Loxg. 



A SEARCH of the literature available on this subject re- 

 veals very little from a bacteriological standpoint and 

 not a great deal from a chemical point of view. 



A gas-producing organism having the characteristics of B. 

 putrificus coli was isolated from "swells" containing meat by 

 Fowler in 1908^ 



Tonney and Grooken- attributed the presence of carbon 

 dioxide and alcohol in canned goods to alcoholic fermentation, 

 which occurs as a result of imperfect sterilization. The 

 presence of nitrogen they attributed to protein decomposition, 

 claiming that the amount of this gas is an index of the amount 

 of such decomposition. They found hydrogen present in 

 amounts varying from none to 48 percent. Its presence was an 

 indication of ptomaine-producing substances. Marsh gas, 

 which occurred in small amounts, had the same significance. 

 Carbon monoxide, which occurred occasionally, was formed 

 by the reduction of carbon dioxide by nascent hydrogen. Oxy- 

 gen, occurring in traces only, was present as a constituent of 

 air. They found extreme variations in the kinds and amounts 

 of gases in the same types of foods. 



J. M. Coerbergh'% working with canned spinach, found that 

 the amount of tin in material put up in cans, by the same maker 

 and at the same time, may vary greatly. The amount in un- 

 varnished cans one year old was less than 126 mgs. per kilo- 

 gram of food, while the amount in varnished cans was always 

 much less. He found that the amount of tin bore no relation 

 to the amount of air or of nitrates in the cans. 



R. F. Bacon, in an article entiled "Tin Salts in Canned Goods 

 of Low Acid Content"'*, states that many nonacid foods attack 

 tin linings to a very marked extent. A determination of the 

 ratio of tin to acid in a number of canned foods showed that 

 this ration was highest in nonacid vegetables and lowest in acid 



1. Third Report of the Committee on Physiological Effects of Food, Training and 

 Clothing on the Soldiev, 1908, 49-51. 



2. "Analysis of Gases Contained in Swollen Canned Goods," American Food Journal 

 3, 1908. 



3. Pharm. "Weekblad 49, 429-31, 490-495, Chem. Abs. 1912. 



4. U. S. Dept. Agri., Bur. Chem., Circular 79, 1911. 



