Nov. is, 1915 Gossypol , the Toxic Substance in Cottonseed Meal 265 
chlorid. The samples dried at 125 0 to 130°, melted at 179 0 to 180°, and 
air-dried samples melted with quick heating at 188 0 . 
Our experiments indicate that the substance which Marchlew ski named 
“ gossypol ” contained acetic add in combination with the substance to which 
we think the name iC gossypol” should be assigned. The acetic-acid content 
of our different products varied from 8.5 to 9.5 per cent , depending upon 
the conditions under which crystallization took place. The substance con¬ 
taining acetic acid and the substance freed of acetic acid differ in elementary 
composition and in melting point , as one would expect. Marchlewski’s 
empirical formulae for gossypol appear to us to be erroneous, as they were 
based upon the ultimate analysis of the acetate instead of the substance 
freed from acetic acid. 
Marchlewski supposed that gossypol might prove of value as a dyestuff, 
and before the publication of his article took out patents 1 to protect his 
discoveries. He made no suggestion as to its physiological activity, nor 
have we been able to find that anyone else has done so. 
EXPERIMENTAL WORK WITH GOSSYPOL 
method op routine FEEDING 
Rabbits and guinea pigs were used in our experiments. Rabbits do 
not eat cottonseed meal nor cottonseed kernels readily. Therefore, to 
make the various solid feeds palatable, we moistened them with the best 
grade of molasses, rabbits eating the various feeds with great relish until 
made sick. They were fed liberally with green feed once a day. 
In case of forced feeding a catheter was inserted to the stomach and the 
dose allowed to drain in. The intraperitoneal injections were made by 
the Station veterinarian, Dr. G. A. Roberts, by whom also the post¬ 
mortem examinations and notes were made. 
The rabbits were fed in galvanized-iron cages, about 20 inches long by 
16 inches wide by 10 inches deep. Each contained a trough with sep¬ 
arate compartments for water and feed. 
TOXICITY OF COTTONSEED KERNELS (FEED 290) 
Cottonseed kernels were extracted with petroleum ether, which does 
not remove gossypol in appreciable quantities. A rabbit was started on 
15 gm. daily of this feed, but it would not eat all of it. Diarrhea 
resulted on the second day, and its appetite fot green feed was affected 
on the third and fourth days. It gradually ate less and less, so that the 
feed was discontinued on the eleventh day and the ether-extracted 
kernels (feed 316) substituted on the day following. During the last five 
days it ate only 11.5 gm. It ate 56.5 gm. of feed 290, losing 130 gm. in 
weight, but recovered on feed 316. 
1 English patent No. 24418 of 1895 and German patents Nos. 98074 and 98587 of 1898. 
