454 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 638 



cylic acid) the uric acid of the urine was 

 increased. One subject with chronic al- 

 buminuria, but otherwise no marked renal 

 lesions, eliminated no more than the normal 

 amount when aspirin was taken. Creati- 

 nine with all these drugs showed a remark- 

 able constancy. 



The Properties of Culture Media as af- 

 fected hy Certain Products of Plant 

 Metabolism: Oswald Schreiner and J. 

 F. Breazealb. 



It was shown that certain products of 

 plant metabolism, degradation products of 

 proteids and lecithins, were harmful to 

 seedling plants. Some of these products 

 found in green plants lose their toxic prop- 

 erties on oxidation and become beneficial. 

 It was pointed out that this explained the 

 advantages of green manuring over mineral 

 fertilizers and the chemistry of green 

 manuring was discussed in this connection. 



On the Increase in Weight in the Hy- 

 drolysis of Casein: J. H. Long. 

 By the digestion of casein and other 

 proteins by action of pepsin and hydro- 

 chloric acid an increase in weight follows 

 from the absorption of water and the addi- 

 tion of molecules of the acid to form salt- 

 like bodies with the products of hydrolysis. 

 In this paper the author describes a series 

 of experiments in which casein was treated 

 through a period of about five weeks with 

 pepsin and dilute hydrochloric acid at a 

 temperature of 40°. The digestion mix- 

 ture was distributed through a series of 

 flasks and from time to time one of these 

 was removed from the thermostat and used 

 for tests. The residue on evaporation 

 was determined and in this the combined 

 hydrochloric acid. The titration values by 

 aid of dimethylaminoazobenzene, phenol- 

 phthalein and p-nitrophenol were also 

 found. By combination of all these data 

 from the whole series of mixtures an at- 



tempt was made to show in tabular form 

 the rate of addition of water and acid 

 throughout the digestive period. 



The author called attention also to the 

 value of p-nitrophenol as an indicator in 

 the titration of digestion mixtures, an ap- 

 plication which seems to have been quite 

 overlooked. 



Further Experiments on the Composition 



of Feces Fat: J. H. Long. 



In previous papers by the author atten- 

 tion has been called to the large phosphorus 

 content of the purified fat from the feces 

 of individuals in normal health. This 

 paper presents the results of a lengthy 

 series of experiments in which the char- 

 acteristics of feces fat are more fully 

 worked out, and especially of the portion 

 which may be described as a body, or mix- 

 ture of bodies, of the lecithin type. It was 

 found that a large fraction of the fat could 

 be precipitated from alcohol solution by 

 cadmium chloride and from ether solution 

 by acetone. Nitrogen and phosphorus were 

 determined in the fractions precipitated by 

 acetone, and in the fraction not so precipi- 

 tated. It was found that practically all 

 the phosphorus was contained in the ace- 

 tone precipitate, while the nitrogen was 

 present in both. A part or all of the nitro- 

 gen may have been split off from the orig- 

 inal complex, however. The ratio of phos- 

 phorus to nitrogen was determined in the 

 original fat, and in the several fractions; 

 also the iodine members, the saponification 

 equivalents and other constants. 



The Influence of Alcohol on the Excretion 

 of Inorganic Constituents of the Urine: 

 F. C. HiNKEL and Wm. Salant. 

 Fifty cubic centimeters of 50 per cent, 

 or 70 per cent, alcohol given by mouth to 

 a healthy dog caused a diminution of 

 chlorides— about 22 per cent. The phos- 

 phates were diminished about 40 per cent. 



