October 21, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



229 



cepts these communal barracks as evidence of a former atage of 

 promiscuity, and the universality of their tabu to the married 

 woman as proof that " marriage" arose by capture; but the evi- 

 dence all along the line (which is barely outlined here) seems to 

 be irresistible. After all, perhaps, when we recollect that our 

 ideas of incest, chastity, and modesty were pretty certainly as 

 unknown to our remote ancestors as they are to some races even 

 in our own day, it does not very much matter whether the pri- 

 mary " unit" was the family or the horde; if anything the horde 

 is preferable. 



A feature of the races having these barracks is (as a rule), that 

 there are no juvenile marriages. At 18 or 20 the young women 

 and at 20 or 25 the men settle down as fairly staid couples while 

 yet in the prime of life, and divorces are rare. There are, as a 

 rule, no old maids, and until civilized races appeared upon the 

 scene, there were probably no prostitutes. Possibly a more ex- 

 tended research may reveal traces of the communal barrack sys- 

 tem and its accompanying tabu in other countries ; but enough has 

 been stated to show that the subject is worthy the attention of all 

 those interested in the question of the origin of marriage and social 

 development. 



Rajinal P.O., SIbsagar, Asam, Sept. 4. 



TEE UTILITY OF VEGETABLE ACIDS IN FOOD. 



BY H. J. PATTERSON. 



Technically speaking, a food is generally described as a sub- 

 stance supplying material for maintaining the vital processes, 

 renewing the waste and forming additional tissues in the animal 

 system. It is a question whether it would not be well to broaden 

 this definition so as to include those substances which serve the 

 purpose of increasing digestibility and assimilation, and of pre- 

 venting destructive metabolism. If these substances are not 

 worthy of being classed as true foods, it may be well to class them 

 as auxiliary foods. Whether the vegetable acids fall in the first 

 class or in the second is still an open question; but they most 

 probably belong to that of auxiliary foods. 



The study of the definite character, quantity, and functions of 

 the vegetable acids which exist in our foods has received but little 

 attention, and consequently their true utility is but little under- 

 stood or imperfectly defined. In the dietary of man acid loods have 

 generally been considered to simply serve to gratify the senses of 

 sight, taste, and smell, promote the appetite, and contribute to 

 pleasure. It is well recognized that organic acids occur in small 

 quantities in most feeding stuffs, but in the natural state tbey are 

 generally in combination with bases. In the proximate analyses 

 of foods the organic acids fall into that general dumping-ground 

 of nitrogen-free extractive matter, and, with the rest of the mem- 

 bers of that class, have until very recently received little or no 

 attention. 



It is a common practice in medicine to use vegetable acids to 

 cause a decrease in the amount of flesh and to retard or stop flesh 

 formation. Asrain, we know that in some cases these acids are 

 used to facilitate digestion and to give a general toning up of the 

 whole animal system. Some investigators have suggested that 

 these acids have certain fuel values closely related to the carbo- 

 hydrates, and that their combustion will save the consumption of 

 other materials; this would class the acids as a true food. With 

 the now almost universal use of silage and brewers' grains in our 

 feeding economy with animals, and the considerable quantity of 

 acids in the free state which are formed in the fermentation which 

 these feeds undergo, it is a matter of considerable importance to 

 know the true effect which these acids exert in the animal sys- 

 tem, and whether they themselves are foods; whether they exert 

 a beneficial influence on other foods; whether they aid or retard 

 digestion, assimilation, and tis?ue and albuminoid consumption. 



The investigations which have been conducted bearing upon 

 this question have been very few and have not taken up the ques- 

 tion as much in detail as it is desirable or as the matter deserves. 

 The first experiment ' in this line, and the one that brought this 

 subject prominently before the author, was where a dog had been 

 fed considerable organic acids in addition to his other food, exact 

 > Beterence lost. 



records of the amount and composition of the food eaten and 

 matter voided kept, with the result that there was produced a 

 greatly increased consumption of the albuminoids. H. Weiske 

 and E. Flechsig' performed experiments with a rabbit and sheep, 

 feeding in addition to ordinary food the calcium and sodium salts 

 of lactic and acetic acids; their results varied, but generally large 

 quantities of the acids increased the albuminoid consumption, 

 while small quantities had the opposite effect. A. Stulzer' com- 

 pared the different organic acids found in feeding-stuffs and in 

 the stomach in the artificial digestion of albuminoids, with the 

 result that most of them have a high value. Acetic acid was 

 found to be surprisingly low. We know from the investigations 

 of Woehler and Lehmann that organic salts are changed in the 

 animal organisms into carbonates and pass off as such in the urine. 

 Charles, in "Physiological and Pathological Chemistry," states 

 that oxalic acid, with animals in normal condition and when ac- 

 tive oxidation is going on, rarely appears as such in the system, 

 but is burnt into carbonic acid and water. 



During the winter of 1891, experiments were made at this sta- 

 tion by the author to test the effects of silage in connection with 

 other foods on the digestibility of the different constituents and 

 on the albuminoid metabolism. The foods used were corn-meal, 

 wheat-bran, cotton-seed meal, germ feed, and gluten meal, in 

 connection with corn-silage versus the same foods in connection 

 with corn-fodder (stover). The animals used in the experiment 

 were two one-year-old, and two two-year old steers. The silage 

 contained on the average 1.86 per cent free acid,* and as the two- 

 year old steers ate on the average from 20 to 25 pounds of silage 

 per day, and the one-year-old steers ate on the average about 15 

 pounds of silage per day, this would make about 180 grams and 

 100 grams of free acid taken by the steers, respectively, per day. 

 The two-year-old steers averaged about 950 pounds, and the one- 

 year-old steers about 550 pounds. These quantities of acid are 

 only from J to | as much as were fed in the experiments of Weiske 

 and Flechsig; with the smaller quantities they concluded that the 

 acid served to conserve the albuminoids, and with the larger 

 quantities to increase albuminoid consumption. 



The average results of my experiments showed that with the 

 rations containing the corn-fodder 33.7 per cent of the nitrogen fed 

 was stored in the body, while with the rations containing the corn- 

 silage there was only 26.6 per cent of the nitrogen fed stored in the 

 body. From this we gather that even with small quantities of 

 acid in the free state, they do not serve to conserve the albuminoids, 

 but rather to increase nitrogen metabolism. The acid of the silage 

 had a tendency to increase the digestibility of all the food con- 

 stituents except that of the protein; this was slightly less digesti- 

 ble in the acid ration. 



The experiments performed and the data at hand will justify 

 the following summary : 1. Large quantities of vegetable acids, 

 either in the free state or combined with bases will produce an 

 increased consumption of albuminoids. 2. Small quantities of 

 vegetable acids in the combined state and very small quantities 

 in the free state have a tendency to increase the digestibility of 

 foods and to decrease nitrogen metabolism or conserve the albu- 

 minoids. 3. The vegetable acids may, in some cases and to a 

 slight degree, serve as conservatives of carbohydrates through 

 their own oxidation. 4. That exclusive or excessive feeding of 

 very acid foods, such as silage or brewer's grains, is detrimental 

 to the animal, and causes a waste of the nitrogen or albuminoids 

 of the food and of the animal body. 



College Park, Md., Oct 8. 



On Tuesday, Oct. 18, there was opened a telephone line be- 

 tween New York and Chicago. The length of the line is 950 miles, 

 which makes it nearly twice the length of any previously in regu- 

 lar operation. Professor A. Graham Bell was present and easily 

 conversed with one of his early associates in telephonic work, who 

 happened to be in Chicago. The formal opening of the line was 

 made by Mayor Grant of New York, who conversed with the 

 Mayor of Chicago at the other end. 



2 Journal f. Landw, 37, pp. 199-334. 



3 Landw Verauoha., 3S, pp. 257-279. 



* Principally acetic and lactic acids. 



