424 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. L. No. 1296 



making the honey unattractive in appearance, and 

 if stored in cells to be used by the bees during the 

 winter, disastrous to the bee keepers; for during 

 the cold weather the bees can not get water to dis- 

 solve the crystals, and starve. This occurred in 

 1917 and 1918, and considerable losses were suf- 

 fered by the bee-keepers from this cause. But in 

 the present year the weather was so moist during 

 July that no melezitose was collected by the bees 

 at all. Several kilograms of this rare sugar have 

 been extracted from honey and purified in the 

 Bureau of Chemistry, so that it is now available 

 for thorough investiga,tion of its properties. It 

 can be readily distinguished from glucose by ob- 

 servation of the crystals in the honey with the 

 polarizing microscope. 



Mills with high apparent acidity: Feank E. 

 EiCE. Individual cows were found giving milk 

 with titratable acidities as high as .22 per cent. 

 Several tests were applied to this type of milk as 

 well as to normal milk both fresh and sour. The 

 results were as follows: (1) Formaldehyde titra- 

 tion indicated that where high casein was present, 

 high apparent acidity might be expected. On the 

 other hand, some samples were found with high 

 apparent acidity which were not unusually high 

 in casein. (2) Titration by the Van Slyke oxa- 

 late procedure indicated that phosphates were al- 

 ways somewhat higher in this class of milk. (3) 

 Eleotrometrie and colorimetric methods showed the 

 hydrogen ion concentration to be similar to that 

 of normal fresh milk. (4) Electrical conductivity 

 was no higher than in normal milk. (5) Methyl- 

 ene blue and alcohol tests were always negative. 



(6) High solids and solids-not-fat usually but 

 not always accompanied high apparent acidity. 



(7) This condition was always found in the early 

 stages of lactation but occasionally also in late 

 stages. (8) Observation did not indicate that 

 feeds were a factor in causing high apparent acid- 

 ity. 



Effects of sulphur in manure-pJiosphate com- 

 posts: W. E. ToTTiNGHAM. Sulphup and rock- 

 phosphate have been composted with manure, both 

 separately and together. Analysis after four 

 months of fermentation has shown the production 

 of high titratable acidity where sulphur was pres- 

 ent, with consequent increases of citrate-soluble 

 P...O5 where rock-phosphate was also present. Ap- 

 plication of these composts to pure sand, together 

 with nutrient salts, to sandy soil and to silt loam 

 for greenhouse cultures of barley has led to in- 

 creased yields of seed from the sulphur-phosphate 

 compost, as compared with the compost of phos- 



phate alone. Similar results have followed the 

 application of sulphur and rock phosphate to field 

 plots of barley in unmanured sandy loam. The 

 jieeuliar, outstanding feature of the results has 

 been that sulphur alone has shown as great seed 

 producing power as the combination of sulphur 

 with rock-phosphate, under these conditions. 



The quantities of preservastives necessary to in- 

 Mbit and prevent alcoholic fermentation and the 

 growth of molds: Margaret C. Perry and George 

 D. Beal. Sterile dextrose broth, to which known 

 quantities of preservative had been added, were 

 inoculated with pure cultures of Sacc. cerevisice 

 and P. glaucum. The tubes were incubated at 

 room temperature until positive results were ob- 

 tained in check tubes. In case of no gas forma- 

 tion or of failure to obtain a visible growth of 

 mold, dextrose agar plates were poured to deter- 

 mine the point at which complete sterilization took 

 place. 



Sharlc meat as an edible product: Allen 

 Rogers. This paper deals with the use of shark 

 meat as a food product and shows that it would 

 be possible to secure approximately 200,000 pounds 

 of this material daily or 75,000,000 pounds an- 

 nually. Assuming that the market price could be 

 set at 10 cents it shows that at the present time we 

 are wasting a food product with a value of $7,300,- 

 000. The edible portion of the shai'k consists of 

 about 50 per cent, of the weight of the body and 

 resembles in its texture and flavor either the hali- 

 but or sword fish. In some markets this product is 

 now being sold under the name of deep sea sword 

 fish and a certain species of shark known as dog 

 fish is being canned and labelled grey fish. Cook- 

 ing experiments have shown the food to be very 

 palatable and nourishing. 



Charles L. Parsons, 



Secretary 



SCIENCE 



A Weekly Journal devoted to the Advancement of 

 Science, publishing the official notices and pro- 

 ceedings of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science 



Published every Friday by 



THE SCIENCE PRESS 



LANCASTER, PA. GARRISON, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, N, Y. 



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