FOOD AND DRUGS ANALYSIS 9 BACTERIOLOGICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL, ETC. Carbohydrates and Enzymes of the Soy Bean. J. P. Street and E. M. Bailey. (J. had, and Eng. Chem., 1915,7,853-858.)-Calculated to a uniform moisture content of 10 per Gent., the average analysis of a large number of samples of soy beans shows : Moisture, 10 per cent.; ash, 5-59 per cent. ; protein (N x 6-95), 38.29 per cent. ; fibre, 4.46 per cent.; nitrogen-free extract, 26.64 per cent.; and fat, 14.89 per cent.; whereas an average analysis of commercial soy bean flours shows : Moisture, 5.1 per cent. ; ash, 4.5 per cent. ; protein, 42% per cent. ; fibre, 3.7 per cent. ; nitrogen-free extract 24.3 per cent. ; and fat, 19.9 per cent. A sample of soy bean meal was fully analysed, and was found to contain 31.08 per cent.of nitrogen-free extract and fibre. There were shown to be present in this 4.51 per cent. total sugars, 0.5 per cent. starch, 3.14 per cent. dextrin, 4.94 per cent. pentosans, 4.86 per cent. galactan (less 0.24 per cent. due to raffinose), 3.29 per cent. cellulose, 1-44 per cent. organic10 ABSTRACTS OF CHEMICAL PAPERS acids, and 8.60 per cent. waxes, colouring matter, etc.Of these constituents only the first three-viz., the sugars, starch, and dextrin, amounting to 8.15 per cent.- may be considered objectionable in a diabetic diet. The finely ground meal was extracted successively with boiling 95 per cent. alcohol, cold water, malt extract, 1 per cent. hydrochloric acid, and 1-25 per cent. sodium hydroxide. It was concluded that raffinose was present from the behavionr of the extract with emulsin.The enzymes present include a protease of the peptoclastic type, a peroxidase, and a, lipase. The presence of an active amylase has been corroborated. Negative results were obtained in testing for invertase and a protease of the peptonising type. Urease and a glucoside-splitting enzyme were not specially tested for, but were assumed to be present.H. F. E. H. Comparative Experiments on the Pasteurisation and Biorisation of Milk. R. Burri and A. C. Thaysen. (Schweix. Mzlchzeit., 1915,41, Nos. 9,16,20, and 23 ; through Int. Inst. Agric., Bull. Agric. Intell. and Plant Diseases, 1915, 6, 1249- 1250.)-Five samples of fresh milk and three samples of old milk were submitted to the following processes : Pasteurisation at 65" C. for twenty minutes, at 63" C.for thirty minutes, and at 75" C. for thirty minutes ; biorisation at 70°, 75", and 80" C., and at a pressure of 2 or 3 atmospheres. Immediately after each experiment the milk was examined for peroxidase, catalase, time of clotting, reductase, number and species of bacteria, and taste. Peroxidase reactions were obtained with all the milks except one sample, which had been biorised at 80" C.With regard to catalase, the figures obtained were always higher for raw milk than for heated milk, but no essential difference could be found between the effect of biorisation at 75" C. and that of moderate pasteurisstion. The coagulating power of the milk was not greatly affected by the heating. In estimating the reductase by Schardinger's methylene blue reaction (ANALYST, 1903, 28, 32), it was found that the time required for decolorisation increased for each increase in temperature to which the milk had been subjected.However, with milk biorised at 80" C., only twenty-four minutes was required for decolorisation, whilst milk pasteurised at 70" C. took several hours. The effect of pasteurisation on the bacteriological content of the milks was generally greater than that of biorisation.The ordinary lactic bacteria (B. gunthri) survived the processes, as did also the majority of the micrococci and spores of certain soil bacteria. B. coli was found only in a few samples biorised a t 70" C., whilst B. aerogenes, although present in large numbers in several samples of raw milk, did not develop in any of the heated samples. A cooked taste was noticed in some of the samples pasteurised at 65" and 70" C., but not in any of the samples pasteurised at 63" C.Several of the samples biorised at 80" C. had a cooked taste, but this was never noticed in those biorised a t 70" and 75" C. w. P. s. New Method of Determining the Proteolgtie Strength of Germinated Grain in Technical Analysis: Acid Ratio.C. A. Nowak. (J. Id. and Eng. Chem., 1915, 7, 858-859.)-A cold aqueous extract of ground malt (one of malt to three of water) is prepared by steeping the malt for exactly forty-five minutes, A portion of the clear filtrate is titrated with & caustic soda, usingphenolphthalein asBACTERIOLOGICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL, ETC. 11 Flagellates.indicator ; formaldehyde, rendered just alkaline with soda, is then added, and the extract again titrated. The increase in acidity is a measure of the amino groups present. The author expresses the opinion that, for brewing purposes, a malt having the greatest amount of amino groups is to be preferred, but only provided the original acidity has been fairly high, and the relation or ratio between the formaldehyde titration value and the natural acidity, obtained by dividing the number of C.C.o€ soda required for the former by the latter, should be as 1 : 1 or greater. ‘‘ A good malt should be high in original acidity, and have an acid ratio of 1 : 1.1.” To obtain comparative figures as to the proteolytic strength of malts, the remainder of the filtrate is allowed to stand for a period of about sixteen hours, when a second acid ratio determination is made.H. F. E, H. Small Large 1 T,-,hl. i Oil iat es. Ciliates. Separation of Soil Protozoa. N. Kopeloff, H. C. Lint, and D. A. Coleman. (J. Agric. Research, 1915,5,137-139.)-For the separation of flagellates from ciliates an eight-day-old culture of soil organisms was employed, which was prepared by adding 100 grms.of clay loam soil to 1 litre of a 10 per cent. hay infusion, together with 0.5 per cent. of egg albumin. The numbers of protozoa in the stock culture solution were first counted by the authors’ method (Trans. Amer. Hicros. Soc,, 1915, 34, 149-2-54), and recorded under classes of (1) flagellates, (2) small ciliates (12 to 20 p), and (3) large ciliates (25 to 60 p).Ten C.C. of the culture solution are placed by means of a sterile pipette on filter-paper previously sterilised with alcohol, and allowed to filter through for one minute. Three counts are made, and the filtrate incubated for five days a t 22O C. to allow of the growth of any encysted forms. The filtration and incubation are then repeated, if necessary, until all the living protozoa of the desired type are filtered out.The filter-paper was used in from one to five thicknesses (S. and S. 589). 1 197,292 106,246 85,208 67,083 10,625 0 Number of Protozoa per 10 C.C. of Filtrate. Number of Filter- Papers. Original solution 1 2 3 4 5 106,250 67,293 60,416 56,666 10,625 0 38,958 38,958 24,742 10,625 0 0 52,083 0 0 0 0 0 The numbers given are the average of three counts. The fact that large ciliates are not able to pass through the filter at all agrees with the experience of Russell and Hutchiason (J. Agric. Sci., 1909, 3, 111-114, and 1913, 5, 152-221). In the case of mixed cultures of protozoa and bacteria, 90 per oent. of the bacteria passed through five thicknesses of paper; and it is probably impossible to effect a complete separation of protozoa from bacteria by the filtration method, although this should prove useful in investigations concerned with the effect of protozoa on mixed, but not on pure, cultures of bacteria. H. I?. E. H.