676 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. V, No. is 
coagulation of the meat and the heating in water was not determined or 
allowed for in the calculations; it is too small. Richardson and Scher- 
ubel (p. 1552) obtained the following averages on cold-water extracts 
from 13 samples of fresh beef (see p. 674): Nitrogen present as ammonia 
0.010 per cent; albumoses, 0.024 P er cent; meat bases, 0.071 per cent. 
The total, 0.405 per cent, corresponds closely to the average of 0.491 
per cent for beef in Table III. It is natural that the figure in Table III 
should be a trifle higher, as it includes data on both fresh and cold-storage 
beef. The storage temperature was practically the same as that used 
by Richardson and Scherubel—i. e., 2 0 to 4 0 C. (36° to 39 0 F.). It will 
be noticed in Table III that while the meats were in cold storage for the 
periods there indicated the extractive nitrogen increased very appre¬ 
ciably in beef samples 7, 8, and 10 and in veal samples 9 and 10. The 
same probably happened in beef and veal samples 3 to 6, but data were 
obtained on these only when fresh. 
Similar increases in extractive nitrogen were noticed by Richardson 
and Scherubel (1909, p. 99) in their study of the changes taking place in 
beef stored at 2 0 to 4 0 C. In their samples proteolysis took place more 
slowly than in those of Table III, probably because, as they state (p. 101), 
“the knuckles (weight 7 to 8 pounds) were hung in a temperature of 2 0 
to 4 0 C. immediately after slaughter and were allowed to remain there 
during the period when analyses were made, that is for 121 days.” 
The meat stored for use in the present work was cut into pieces not 
much larger than a hen’s egg of good size. Undoubtedly this treatment 
permitted more active autolysis and bacterial decomposition than would 
have taken place had the veal and beef been stored in larger masses. As 
previously indicated, entire muscles were dissected from the veal quarters 
for the sake of uniformity of composition of the muscle tissue used for 
analysis, etc., necessitating the storage of comparatively small pieces of 
meat (see p. 669). 
Emmett and Grindley (1909) found that in beef stored for 22 days at 
33 0 to 35 0 F. (0.5 to 2 0 C.) the extractive nitrogen, contrary to expecta¬ 
tions, did not increase, but a slight increase was noticed in beef stored 
under the same conditions for 43 days (p. 425). It is probable that one 
reason for this observation is to be found in their method of preparing 
cold-water extracts of beef for analysis. Portions of the experimental 
beef weighing 30 to 35 gm. were repeatedly extracted with cold water, 
and the extracts after filtration were diluted to 5 liters (Grindley and 
Emmett, 1905, p. 663). After removing coagulable nitrogen in a 200 
c. c. portion of such a filtrate, corresponding to 1.2 gm. of meat, a further 
partition of nitrogen was made on the very small amounts of nitrogen 
remaining. The unavoidable errors in analytic work become proportion¬ 
ately large under such conditions, and the detection of slight changes in 
meat stored under good conditions for short periods of time becomes 
difficult. 
