178 



Journal of Agricultural Research 



Vol. XVI, No. 7 



glucosid, but he points out very correctly that a shght acidity is the best 

 condition for the action of the enzym and that this acid condition might 

 be found in the paunch of ruminants when certain feedstuff s are used. 

 This being true, it was important to knovv the acidity of the juice of the 

 sorghum. The juice was pressed from portions of samples 3 and 4, and 

 portions of this juice were diluted very much and titrated with sodium 

 hydroxide, phenolphthalein being used as the indicator. These results 

 are given in Table I under experiment 7. The acids present in samples i 

 and 2 were not determined, but it is quite probable that all the acids 

 present were nonvolatile and remained in the dry sorghum. Several 

 other determinations of lesser importance were made, these results being 

 also given in Table I. 



Table I. — Results of experiments showing the cyanogenesis in dry and fresh sorghum 



under various conditions 



Experi- 

 ment 

 No. 



Description of experiment. 



Percent- 

 age of 

 hydro- 

 cyanic 



acid 

 found. 



la 

 lb 

 2a 



2b 

 3a 

 3b 

 4a 

 4b 

 4C 

 4d 

 5a 



5b 

 6a 



6b 

 7a 

 7b 

 8 

 9a 

 9b 

 9C 



loa 

 lob 



iia 



lib 



12a 

 12b 

 13a 



13b 

 13c 



Sample 3. Digested in water at 40° C. for i hour 



Sample 3 . Same asia 



Sample 3. Dried for 2)/^ days in the laboratory, then dried for 16 

 hours at 33 ° C 



Sample No. 3 . Same as2a 



Sample 3. Dried at 50° C. for 24 hotirs. Sample thoroughly dried . 



Sample 3. Same as 3a 



Sample 2, ph:s emulsion digested at 40° for 2 hours 



Sample 2. Same as 4a, except no emulsion present 



Sample i. Same as 4a 



Sample i. Same as 4b 



Sample 2 in a solution of i per cent of dextrose and i per cent of 

 maltose 



Sample 2. vSame as 5a 



Sample 3. Digested for i hour at 40° C, distilled off 200 cc, then 

 added 10 cc. of 10 per cent sulphuric acid and distilled another 

 100 cc. Test for hydrocyanic acid in last distillate 



Sample 2. Same treatment as 6a 



Titrated juice from sample 3. Normality found to be o.oij N 



Titrated juice from sample 4. Normality equals o.ojoy N 



Sample 4. Digested for 2 hours at 40° C 



Sample 2. Digested for 2 hours in 5 per cent tartaric acid 



Sample i. Treatment same as 9a 



Sample 3. Treatment same as 9a, except sample was ground under 

 5 per cent tartaric acid 



Sample 3. Kept at 40° C. for 15 minutes 



Sample 2. Same treatment as loa 



Sample 2. Treated witli water at 80° C. and kept at tliis tempera- 

 ture for I hour 



Sample 2 . Treated with water at 90° C. and kept at this tempera- 

 ture for I hour 



Sample 2. Kept in air bath at 70° C. for i hour 



Sample 2. Kept in air bath at 115° C. for i hour and 30 minutes. . 



Sample i. Kept for i hour in Njioo sodium hydroxid made acid 

 and distilled 



Sample 3. Kept in solution of sodium hydroxid {N 1 100) for i hour. . 



Sample 3. Treatment same as 13b, except the sodium hydroxid was 

 NI50, and the solution was made slightly acid with tartaric acid 

 and kept for i hour at 40° C 



o. 0221 

 . 0228 



.0050 

 . 0069 

 . 0109 

 . 0070 

 . 0222 



• 0130 

 .0514 

 .0450 



.0038 

 .0059 



None. 

 None. 



. 0087 

 . 0119 

 . 0018 



None. 

 . 0281 

 .0177 



.049 



. 0040 

 . 0124 

 . 0087 



. 0220 

 .0051 



0136 



