186 



SCIENCE 



[N". S. Vol. XXVIII. No. 710 



cially colored. Tlie purpose of adding color to 

 gluten feeds is only for deception, to make them 

 appear better than they really are or to hide 

 some inferiority, such as the use of rotten, burnt 

 or fermented corn. 



The Detection of Small Quantities of Turpentine 



in Lemon Oil: E. M. Chace. 



The method is based upon the diflferent forms 

 shown by the nitroso chlorid crystals of pinene 

 and limonene when examined imder the micro- 

 scope. The nitroso chlorids of the terpenes of 

 the sample to be examined are prepared from the 

 first 5 per cent, fractionally distilled by means 

 of a Ladenburg 3-bulb flask or with a Glinsky 

 fractionating column, the latter giving the better 

 results. The crystals are purified by solution in 

 chloroform and recrystallization from methyl 

 alcohol. Olive oil is used for mounting. 



The Manufacture of Lemon Oil in Sicily: E. M. 



Chace. 



The location and a brief description of the 

 principal centers of the production of lemon oil 

 in Sicily were described. Three methods of pro- 

 duction are used in the island. The two-piece 

 method in which the lemon is cut in half, the pulp 

 removed and the oil extracted by means of pres- 

 sure within a sponge is used in the Messina, Etna 

 and Syracuse districts. The three-piece method, 

 in which the lemon is pared, the skin being re- 

 moved in three pieces, leaving the pulp with a 

 small portion of the skin adhering to each end, 

 the parings being pressed against a flat sponge 

 for extraction, is confined to the Barcelona and 

 Palermo districts. The use of machines in the 

 production of oil is confined to the province of 

 Calabria upon the mainland, less than 5 per cent, 

 of the total output being thus manufactured. 



The Influence of Environment on the Composition 

 of Wheat: J. A. LeCleko and Sheeman Lea- 



VITT. 



Crops grown from the same seed at three points 

 of widely different climatic conditions, such as 

 Kansas, California and Texas, forming a so-called 

 triangular experiment, and similarly at South 

 Dakota, California and Texas, showed a marked 

 cuaerenee in the protein content, the weight per 

 bushel, the percentage of starchy grain and total 

 sugar content. Kansas produced invariably a 

 high protein and California a low protein and 

 high sugar content wheat. Wheat grown in Cali- 

 fornia one year was found to double its protein 

 content when grown in Kansas the next; the 

 reverse was found to be true when Kansas seed 



was grown in California. These diilerences are 

 due to climatic conditions. The composition of 

 the seed seems to exert no influence on the com- 

 position of the crop. 



The Analysis of Meat Extracts and other Meat 

 Preparations: John Philips Street. 

 Twenty-two paste extracts, 13 fluid extracts, 

 4 meat juices and 3 meat powders were very 

 completely analyzed. The determinations made 

 were water, alcohol, ash, fat, chlorin, phosphoric 

 acid, potash, acidity to phenolphthalein and lit- 

 mus, total nitrogen, insoluble and coagulable 

 nitrogen, syntonin, ammonia, nitrogen precipi- 

 tated by tannin-salt and by zinc sulphate, meat 

 bases, creatinin, creatin and total purins. In 

 general the extracts contained excessive amounts 

 of added sodium chlorid, in one case over 25 per 

 cent. The biuret reaction failed in the zinc sul- 

 phate filtrate in all the pastes, but as tannin-salt 

 in every case precipitated much more nitrogen 

 than zinc sulphate, on the average about 2 per 

 cent., it is suggested that this difl'erence may be 

 largely due to Fischer's non-biuret-reacting poly- 

 peptides. Attention is called to the false and 

 misleading claims made by many of the manufac- 

 turers for the extracts. The methods of analysis 

 used are given in detail, and a bibliography of 

 the subject from the analytical standpoint, with 

 221 titles, is appended. 



Commercial Preservation of Flesh Foods: W. D. 



KiCHARDSON. 



The means used at the present time for food 

 preservation may be classified under four prin- 

 cipal heads: (1) heat sterilization, (2) desicca- 

 tion, (3) low temperatures, (4) the use of anti- 

 septics. Any of these processes may be carried 

 out in the absence of air or oxygen. All of these 

 methods have been used by primitive man singly 

 and in combination from times of greatest an- 

 tiquity, and are used by primitive tribes to-day. 

 Modern science has extended the means of carry- 

 ing out the various methods of preservation, but 

 has made only one original contribution to the 

 art, namely, the use of small quantities of non- 

 eondimental antiseptics. Of the various methods 

 of preservation the application of low tempera- 

 tures would seem to be the best, inasmuch as 

 little or no alteration in composition occurs under 

 this application and at most there is a change in 

 physical structure which does not affect composi- 

 tion or nutritive value. 

 Chemistry of Frozen Beef and Poultry: W. D. 



ElCHAKDSON. 



