November 7, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



429 



with ordinary unground wheat bran, viz., for 

 protein 28.0 per cent, and for carbohydrates 

 55.5 per cent, and the other quoted experi- 

 ments on graham, whole wheat flours and 

 straight flours where greater or less amounts 

 of the branny coatings were present, it seems 

 perfectly safe to assert that the digestibility 

 of the combined branny coatings of the wheat 

 berry is even lower than the figures quoted. 

 If we may assume, for example, that average 

 commercial bran contains 14 per cent, protein 

 and consists of 15 per cent, flour cells and 85 

 per cent, branny coats and that average 

 straight flour has 11.5 per cent, protein, 2.1 

 per cent, of the bran is flour protein and 11.9 

 per cent, bran protein. If it is fair to apply 

 to the flour protein, the average coefficient of 

 protein digestiliility — 90.9 per cent, found in 

 white flour digestion experiments,* 1.91 per 

 cent, of the bran is digested from the flour 

 protein and since but 3.92 per cent, of the 

 total protein is digested, the balance or 2.01 

 per cent, represents the digestible protein 

 derived from the bran coats only. The digest- 

 ibility of the protein of the branny covering 

 of the wheat grain is therefore about 16.8 per 

 cent. 



In the absence of data on the digestibility 

 of ground husks and pulverized nut shells, 

 it is perhaps no exaggeration to assert that 

 as far as the digestibility in the human 

 stomach of the branny portion of the wheat 

 grain is concerned, bran must be considered 

 as not much more nutritious or desirable than 

 pulverized nut shells woifld be. 



Charles H. Briggs 

 The Howard Wheat and Flour Testing 

 Laboratory, 

 Minneapolis, Minn. 



THE INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN 

 ZOOLOGY 



It has been of especial interest to those of us 

 in the University of Missouri who have taken 

 part in the presentation of the introductory 

 course in zoology to read the recent discussion 



* Page 6, TJ. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bulletin 

 No. 751. 



in Science by Professor Bradley M. Davis^ 

 and Professor A. Franltlin Shull,^ because the 

 type of course advocated by both is exactly the 

 kind of elementary course that has been given 

 here for nearly twenty years. It is, therefore, 

 extremely grat^ying to us to note the tendency 

 that is beginning to manifest itself, as a result 

 of the readjustment from war conditions, in 

 respect to the introductory teaching of botany 

 and zoology in our colleges and universities, 

 and it is our earnest hope that it will not be 

 long before the old type course will have been 

 abandoned everywhere and its place taken by 

 the more significanft course based upon funda- 

 mental principles. 



We have been attempting to do for a long 

 time exactly what Professor Davis expresses as 

 his hope for the future — "nothing more than 

 the grounding of fundamental principles and 

 a selection of information with rather definite 

 reference to its general and practical interests, 

 or its broad philosophical bearing," and Pro- 

 fessor Shull's description of the first course in 

 zoology, as it has been given in the University 

 of Michigan for several years, applies in all 

 essential respects to ours. 



In no sense has our introductory course been 

 one based upon the study of types, and never 

 has it been dominated by anatomy. It has 

 been our strong conviction that such a course 

 fails utterly, from an educational point of 

 view, in affording an adequate introduction 

 to the study of zoological science. A thorough 

 study of a single animal and studies in com- 

 parative morphology and in taxonomy belong, 

 we have always held, to the more advanced 

 and specialized courses designed for students 

 who have an interest in the further pursuit of 

 zoological knowledge, and not to the introduc- 

 tory course. 



Long ago we recognized the obvious fact 

 that the great majority of students who take 

 our course in general zoology will receive no 

 further biological training, and, therefore, our 

 efforts have been directed toward giving it 



1 Science, N. S., Vol. 48, November 22, 1918, pp. 

 514-515. 



2 Science, N. S., Vol. 48, December 27, 1918, pp. 

 648-649. 



