JOURNAL OF AGMLTIAL RESEARCH 
Vol. XXV Washington, D. C., August 18, 1923 
No. 7 
QUANTITATIVE VARIATION OF GOSSYPOL AND ITS RE¬ 
LATION TO THE OIL CONTENT OF COTTONSEED 1 
By Erich W. Schwartz®, Pharmacologist in Charge , Pharmacological Laboratory , 
and Carl L. Ai&bzrg, formerly Chief , Bureau of Chemistry , United States Department 
of Agriculture 
INTRODUCTION 
In connection with the food conservation problem which arose during 
the World War, the Bureau of Chemistry was asked to supply informa¬ 
tion on the suitability of cottonseed press cake for human consumption . 3 
As the statements in the literature on the nature of poisoning by cotton¬ 
seed were conflicting, a reinvestigation of the question was necessary. 
The investigation resolved itself into several distinct, though closely 
related, studies. While all of these studies were carried on simulta¬ 
neously, each one will be reported separately, beginning with the one 
here discussed . 3 
For a long time some feeders have believed that different lots of cot¬ 
tonseed meal have different degrees of toxicity . 6 It is highly probable 
that there is a sound basis for this belief on the part of practical men. 
Crawford (<5), who stated that the toxic agent in cottonseed is pyro- 
phosphoric acid, regarded some of these differences, at least, as varietal 
characteristics of the different seed. This would be consistent with the 
belief very generally held that cottonseed poisoning is more frequent in 
some regions than in others, since the varieties cultivated differ from 
region to region. At any rate, it seems to be a fact that a variation in 
toxicity is associated with variations in the place and crop year of pro¬ 
duction, although the writers have been unable to find in the literature 
satisfactory data on which a comparison of poisoning by cottonseed pro¬ 
duced in different regions or from the crops of different years in the 
same region could be based. 
That the composition of many seeds varies from region to region and 
from crop year to crop year has been established beyond doubt. In 
the case of wheat these variations are common knowledge. Piper and 
Morse ( 8 ) have observed that certain regions of the South produce soy¬ 
beans with higher oil content than others. Thompson and Bailey ( 11 ) 
found that differences in the oil content of different varieties of peanuts 
grown under the same conditions and in the same locality were not 
1 Accepted for publication June 23,1923. This is the first paper of a series dealing with cottonseed poisoning. 
2 Fraps (7) 4 recommends cottonseed meal, in limited quantities, for human consumption. He does not 
deny, however, the deleterious action of this meal on domesticated animals. 
* The preliminary report on this work was read before the American Chemical Society, April 7-11, 1919. 
(See: Alsberg, C. L., Schw artzs E. W., and Wherry, E. T. the occurrence op gossypol in dif¬ 
ferent varieties of cottonseed. (Title.) In Science, v. 49, p. 573. 1919.) 
4 Reference is made by number (italic) to “Literature cited,” p. 295. 
4 Personal communication from C. T. Dowell, Stillwater, Okla. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. XXV, No. 7 
Washington, D. C. 
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