60 Report or DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY OF THE 
phosphorus-bearing proteids are formed in great abundance in the 
milk and eggs, the kind and quantity of phosphorus compounds 
in the ration might have an important influence upon production. 
As it was believed that cattle and poultry foods probably con- 
tained both inorganic and organic phosphorus bodies in greatly 
varying relative and absolute quantities, it was supposed that 
rations might be selected which would show markedly different 
effects upon the secretion of phosphorus-bearing proteids and there- 
fore upon production with cows and hens, milk and eggs being 
rich in these bodies. 
Our views of.the conditions attending our proposed investiga- 
tion’ were much modified by an examination into the nature of 
the phosphorus compounds of the various grains and their by- 
products. In Bulletin No. 238 of this Station®® it was first shown, 
and later confirmed by Schulze and Castoro,*! that in normally 
grown, non-etiolated plants the phosphorus exists in the seeds 
wholly in organic combinations, while in the straw a small pro- 
portion occurs in inorganic forms. It was also shown in a later 
bulletin®? that wheat bran, the outer layer of the wheat kernel and 
rich in phosphorus, contains practically all of this element in an 
organic combination of an entirely different nature from either the 
nucleins or lecithins. 
This bran body is an organic acid radical coupled with calcium, 
magnesium and potassium and is probably identical with the com- 
pound Posternak*® isolated from other plant tissues and to which 
he gave the name of phytin.34 Phytin is widely distributed in 
nature and has been found in the seeds of red fir, pumpkin, peas, 
beans, white and yellow lupines, potatoes and wheat. 
It can be completely or nearly removed from wheat bran by 
mere washing with water, but more easily by allowing the bran 
to undergo a slight acid fermentation followed by leaching with 
water. It is this fact that allowed us to prepare a ration very 
low in its phosphorus content, 
°N. Y. Agr. Expt. Stat. Bul. 238, 1903, and Amer. Chem. Jour., 30: 470. 
1903. 
 Ztschr. Physiol. Chem., 412.477. 1904. 
WN. Y. Agr. Expt. Stat. Bul. 250, 1904, and Amer. Chem. Jour., 31: 564, 
1904. 
® Rov Gen. Bot., 12425. 1900. 
* Scheeiz. Wochenschr. Phar., 42: 1904. 
