November 7, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



679 



to their retention. The feces may contain an 

 abundance of sodiunij but are nearly free from 

 chlorine. 



Potassium, magnesium and chlorine balances 

 were usually positive, but were negative during 

 periods of maximum intake, apparently through 

 over-response in the way of protective elimination 

 of excess ingested. 



Calcium retention was satisfactory only on ra- 

 tions containing meat meal containing considerable 

 bone and skim milk. Neither cereals nor soy 

 beans furnish the calcium requisite for growth. 

 An excess of magnesium to calcium caused loss 

 of calcium with a ration of rice polish and wheat 

 bran. The excess of magnesium to calcium in 

 corn and in other practical rations does not ap- 

 preciably restrict calcium retention. 



The important deficiencies of corn are, in order 

 of magnitude, first, calcium; second, phosphorus; 

 third, nitrogen. 



Creatinin elimination was entirely independent 

 of food, but varied in the same order as live 

 weight, weight of dressed carcass, of flesh, of 

 bones and of blood. 



Soy beans, meat meal and skim milk increase 

 the digestibility of the carbohydrates of the com 

 with which they are fed. Meat meal and skim 

 milk increase the apparent digestibility of the fat, 

 and decrease the digestibility of the crude fiber 

 of the corn with which they are fed, the results 

 being digestion coefficients of more than 100 and 

 less than nothing. 



V. 0. Myees and M. S. Fine: The Fate of Crea- 

 tine and Creatinine when Administered to Sab- 

 hits. 



When creatine is administered subeutaneously 

 to rabbits in amounts varying between 50 and 100 

 mgm. per kgm. of body weight per day, 25-80' 

 per cent., depending upon the amount given, re- 

 appears in the urine unchanged, 2-10 per cent, is 

 eliminated as creatinine, about 15 per cent, is re- 

 tained by the muscle, while, if introduced in small 

 amounts, as much as 50 per cent, may be metab- 

 olized. We are inclined to attach considerable 

 significance to the slightly increased excretion of 

 creatinine as indicating the metabolic relationship 

 between these two substances. The creatine con- 

 tent of the muscle was raised from the normal of 

 0.52 per cent, to 0.55 per cent. (5 expts.) after the 

 administration of creatine, and to 0.56 per cent. 

 (3 expts.) after the administration of creatinine. 

 Andrew Hunter, M. H. Givens and C. M. Gtjion : 

 Studies in the Comparative Physiology of 

 Purine Metabolism. 



Philip Adolph Kober: The Estimation of Pro- 

 tein, Amino and Nvxleio Acids in Potable 

 Waters. 



Experiments show that by using the right pre- 

 eipitants and evaporating to one tenth of the 

 original volume proteins and nucleic acids can be 

 estimated in potable waters by the author's 

 nephelometric method. This method will easily 

 reveal the presence of one part of substance in one 

 million parts of water. 



By using the copper method (to be described by 

 the author in the next number of the Journal of 

 the American Chemical Society) potable waters 

 may be analyzed for amino acid nitrogen before 

 or after hydrolysis. This method will reveal one 

 part of amino acid nitrogen in one million of 

 water, without difficulty. 



Howard D. Haskins: The Acidity of Normal 



Urine. 



Certain modifications of Henderson 's method 

 were suggested. Permanent color standards were 

 proposed for the range of acidity determined by 

 paranitrophenol. A report was made of a study 

 of variations of acidity in 24-hour samples and 

 in fractional samples, i. e., the day's urine col- 

 lected in five periods. No relation of concentra- 

 tion of urine to acidity was found. The effect of 

 diet was slight. Night urine was distinctly acid 

 in 50 per cent, of the cases, and morning urine 

 (breakfast to 11) was of very low acidity in 50 

 per cent, of the cases. Sweating seemed to have 

 a marked effect in causing higher acidity. 

 Max Kahn: Metabolism Studies of Five Cases of 



Endarteritis obliterans. 



Five patients suffering from obliterating endar- 

 teritis were fed on a FoUn diet and their metab- 

 olism studied. It was found that the nitrogen 

 metabolism was normal but that the calcium and 

 ethereal sulfates were increased in the urine. 

 Max Kahn: Calcium Content of Tuberculous 



Areas in Lung Tissue. 



Wherever the tubercle bacillus lodges it induces 

 a deposition of calcium salts which hinders the 

 ingress of more tubercle bacilli. The body in gen- 

 eral becomes poorer in lime salts. It was found 

 that tubercular areas in the lungs contained two 

 to three times as much calcium as normal lung 

 tissue. The work is in progress. 

 Max Kahn and A. Hymanson: Metabolism 



Studies of Two Cases of Amaurotic Idiocy. 



Two cases of amaurotic family idiocy were kept 

 under observation until death. The metabolism of 

 nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus was carefully 



