BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 35 
exceptionally rich in albuminoids should now and then be met with ; 
but I think they do not fairly represent the commercial article, and I 
have therefore little hesitancy in excluding from my estimation of the 
average composition of bran the: determinations of albuminoids given 
in analyses Nos. VIII. to XII. 
If due allowance be made for all these sources of error and differ- 
ence, and for the smaller proportion of water reported in the American 
brans, — due in part, perhaps, to the dryness of our winter climate as 
compared with that of Europe, and probably in part to the fact that 
analysts are not in accord as to the best temperature for drying or- 
ganic substances,* — it will be seen that the average composition of 
the European brans is very nearly the same as that of the American. 
The following table shows the average composition of European brans 
thus deduced from selected determinations. 
No. of determinations (or rather of 
statements of results) from which 
the mean has been deduced. Mean. 
Waterivinc.|. : ME RS ESOS ees BS 13.24 
Ash (free from C and CO,) . sth | se 2 : 3 4.10 
Albuminoids . 3 . eet 13.44 
Carbohydrates ‘as fat), = difference ° 60.22 
Cellulose... : ‘ 3 ‘ ; . 14 9.00 
100.00 
Dry organic matter, by difference Sisal d 82.66 
Fat * . * . . ° es . . e 1 2 3.6 2 
This result differs appreciably in several particulars from Wolff's 
estimate as stated in the fodder-tables in Johnson’s ‘‘ How Crops 
Grow,” p. 387, and is, I think, more nearly correct. I regret my 
present inability to consult Professor Wolff’s original discussiqn of 
* The percentage of water in the American brans, as above stated, was determined 
by drying at 100° C. But many analysts prefer to dry at 110°.. A couple of trials, 
made specially to determine how large an amount of water would be expelled at 
110° from bran that had previously been dried at 100°, gave the following results : — 
_ 2.0486 grammes of Michigan shorts gave 11.89% of water when dried at 100° 
“ «e “cc “ “ec 12.54 6“ “ “cc “ “c 110° 
Difference 0.65 
2.8835 grms. of St. Louis middlings gave 12.21% of water when dried at 100° 
“ce “ce tas “ <3 12.89 “< “cc “ “cc “ 110° 
Difference : 0.68 
