446 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1401 



antigen is soluble in water, but it is not extracted 

 from its aqueous solution by Hpin solvents. It is 

 heat stable in acid solution. The aqueous solution 

 obtained from the alcoholic extract appears to pos- 

 sess the complete immunizing properties of the 

 original pneumococci when tested prophylaeticaUy 

 upon white mice, inducing in the animals an active 

 immunity of a high degree. The antigenic fraction 

 of pneumococci appears to be associated with the 

 vitamine fraction. 



Biochemical studies in pellagra: M. X. Sullivan. 

 In the chemical studies of the patients at the Pella- 

 gra Hospital, Spartanburg, S. C, no marked evi- 

 dence of acidosis was noted, though the patients 

 as a whole tended to minimum normal levels. In 

 general the mixture afforded by the results of the 

 biochemical study of patients in the active stage of 

 the disease is that of malnutrition and low protein 

 metabolism with in general a low total nitrogen ex- 

 cretion, a heightened ammonia ratio with low uric 

 and create a low area and a low ratio of urea nitro- 

 gen to total nitrogen. The undetermined nitrogen 

 in the active stage of the disease is much higher 

 than normal and contains basic material. 



The chemical composition of decayed tomatoes: 

 R. T. Balch and I. K. Phelps. A chemical study 

 of tomatoes decomposed by two molds that cause 

 ' ' soft rots, ' ' namely, ' ' Mhizopus nigricans ' ' and 

 ' ' Oidium lactis ' ' showed a decrease in the sugar 

 content, the acidity, the nitrogen, and to a slight 

 extent the citric acid. There was always a forma- 

 tion of ammonia. These determinations as well as 

 those of the phosphorous in the insoluble solids, 

 the nitrogen in the insoluble solids before and after 

 treatment with ?0 per cent, potassium hydroxide, 

 the soluble protein nitrogen and the distribution of 

 the soluble nitrogen would not serve as a means 

 of detecting spoilage in tomato products, excepting 

 in eases where a physical examination would suffice, 

 for the following reasons: (1) The constituents 

 of the tomato are variable. (2) The percentage 

 composition of the tomato is not dependent upon 

 the composition of the tomato alone but varies with 

 the many different processes through which the 

 product goes during its manufacture. (3) The 

 small amount of spoilage that would probably be 

 present would not materially change the composi- 

 tion of the product. 



Energy expenditure in sewing: C. F. Lang- 

 ■WOKTHY and H. G. Bakott. The respiration cal- 

 orimeter was used to measure the energy expended 

 by a woman hemming by hand on various materials 

 and at different speeds, and doing similar sewing 

 on a machine driven by foot power and by elec- 



tricity. Little variation was found in the energy 

 required for hand hemming on fine handkerchiefs, 

 cotton sheets, S-ounce cotton duck, and army 

 blankets, the energy required for the actual sew- 

 ing ranging from 4.3 calories per hour in the case 

 of army blankets to 5.8 calories in the case of 

 handkerchiefs. When the speed of sewing was in- 

 creased, the energy output increased proportion- 

 ately. Hemming sheets on a foot-driven machine 

 required about six times as much energy per hour 

 as doing the same work by hand, but the energy 

 used per meter of sewing was hardly one half as 

 great. When an electrically driven machine was 

 used the energy required per hour was not quite 

 twice that used for hand sewing and about one 

 fourth that for the foot-driven machine; the energy 

 per meter of sewing was about one fifth of that 

 measured on the foot-driven machine and less than 

 one tenth that of hand sewing. A three weeks' 

 attack of influenza during the progress of the ex- 

 periments made it possible to compare the energy 

 output of the subject before and after the infection. 

 Por five weeks after apparently complete recovery 

 her energy expenditure per kilogram of body 

 weight averaged nearly 4 per cent, lower than be- 

 fore her illness. 



Loss of ccsrhmi dioxid from dough as an index 

 of flour strength: C. H. Bailet and Mildred 

 Weigley. Two groups of factors appear involved 

 in determining baking strength of flour: (a) the 

 rate of gas production and (6) gas retention in the 

 dough. The former can be varied in the desired 

 direction, while the latter is apparently related to 

 the percentage and physical properties of the gluten 

 proteins and is more difficult to control. A study 

 of the rate of expansion, and the loss of carbon 

 dioxid from doughs made with strong and weak 

 flours indicates that weak flour doughs lose more 

 carbon dioxid per unit increase in volume than do 

 strong flours. The loss of carbon dioxid per unit 

 volume increase is suggested as a useful criterion 

 of comparative strength of flours. 



Studies of wheat flour grades. III. Efeat of 

 chlorine bleaching upon the electrolytic resistance 

 and hydrogen-ion concentration of water extracts: 

 C. H. Bailey and Arnold Johnson. Bleaching 

 of flour with chlorine effects an appreciable in- 

 crease in the conductivity and hydrogen-ion con- 

 centration of its water extract. The modification 

 of these properties is in direct ratio to the quantity 

 of chlorine employed in treating the flour. 



Charles L. Parsons, 



Secretary 



