176 



Scientific Proceedings (127) 



duce central nervous stimulation. There is reasonable ground, 

 therefore, for the opinion that the central nervous systems of 

 arthropods possess certain common features, revealed through 

 the actions of neurophie drugs; and that these features dis- 

 tinguish the arthropod central nervous system from that of an 

 oligochaete. 



82 (2042) 



Tallowiness in butterfat. 



By GEORGE E. HOLM and G. R. GREENBANK. 



[From the Research Laboratories of the Dairy Division, Bureau 

 of Animal Industry, Department of Agriculture , 

 Washington, D. C] 



Butterfat exposed to light and air rapidly takes on an odor 

 and off flavor which has been termed "tallowy." Among the 

 early workers who attributed the tallowness in fats to the direct 

 action of oxygen are Winckel, 1 Scala, 2 Ryan and Marshall, 3 

 Vintilesco and Popesco, 4 and others. Winckel attributes such 

 a state to the action of oxygen upon oleic acid, but he was not 

 able to show the reactions in butter and cocoanut oil that he 

 showed in other fats. Vintilesco and Popesco were apparently 

 the first to postulate the direct union of oxygen with the un- 

 saturated linkages of fats to form peroxides which readily re- 

 lease their oxygen in the presence of peroxidases, giving re- 

 actions with guaiacol. 



Smith 5 favors the view that rancidity is induced by en- 

 zymes, while Hunziker and Hosman 6 attribute tallowness in 

 butter to oxidation with subsequent splitting and the formation 

 of fatty acids and glycollic acid. Palmer and Combs, 7 more 

 recently, favor the view that tallowness in butter is dependent 



1 Winckel, M., Apothekers Ztg., 1905, lxix, 690. 



2 Scala, A., Staz. spermi. agric. Ital., 1897, xxx, 613. 



■ Ryan, L. A., and Marshall, J., Am. Jour, of Pharm., 1907, lxxix, 308. 

 * Ventilesco, J., and Popesco, A., J. de Pharm. et d. Chimie, 1915, xii, 318. 



