28 BULLETIN 433, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



chiefly of a slight softening of the tissues, an exudation of meat 

 juices, and a change in color of the meat. 



2. Incubated samples developed a characteristic, rather pleasant 

 odor, similar to that of rare roast beef, the odor becoming more 

 pronounced as the period of incubation progressed. 



A sample which had been incubated 103 days did not prove to 

 be a palatable food for human consumption. 



3. Total soluble extract or total solids showed a decrease early in 

 the experiment, and later an increase, the total increase amounting 

 to 8. 77 per cent of the amount present in the fresh material. 



4. Ash of extract showed appreciable, but not regular, increases, 

 which correspond roughly with similar increases in total soluble 

 phosphorus. 



5. The acidity of the samples showed appreciable increases, partic- 

 ularly toward the close of the experiment. 



6. The changes which took place in the nitrogenous compounds 

 consisted, in general, in an increase in total soluble nitrogen and in 

 a conversion of the higher forms of soluble nitrogenous compounds 

 into simpler combinations. 



{a) Coagulable nitrogen showed a marked decrease, more than 50 

 per cent of which took place during the first week of the experiment. 

 The total decrease amounted to approximately 80 per cent .of the 

 amount present in the fresh material. 



(h) Noncoagulable nitrogen increased fairly regularly during 

 the course of the experiment, the total increase amounting to 173.8 

 per cent. 



(<?) Proteose nitrogen increased rapidly early in the experiment, 

 and the quantity then remained practically stationary during the 

 remainder of the incubation period. 



{d) Amino nitrogen showed greater actual and relative changes 

 than any other nitrogenous constituent. This result was to have 

 been expected, since this constituent represents, in a large degree, 

 an accumulation of the end-products of proteolysis. The total 

 increase in amino nitrogen amounted to 740 per cent, and nearly 

 one-fifth of the total nitrogen was in the amino form at the end 

 of the experiment. 



{e) Ammoniacal nitrogen showed marked and fairly regular in- 

 creases, the total increase amounting to over 500 per cent, although 

 this constituent made up only 1.55 per cent of the total nitrogen 

 at the close of the experiment. 



7. Phosphorus compounds showed changes which consisted chiefly 

 in appreciable increases in total soluble phosphorus and in soluble 

 inorganic phosphorus, and in corresponding decreases in insoluble 

 and in soluble organic phosphorus. 



