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Digestibility of certain miscellaneous vegetable fats
544
CURREXT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
characterized as a chemist’s war, and chemistry has permeated every aspect of it. The chemists of all the belligerent countries have been organized into the equivalent of what we have termed the Chemical Warfare Service, and for the time, to which we may now happily refer in the past tense, the entire chemical brain and energy of each combatant nation was engaged in the solution of problems of offense and defense.” A single producer found it necessary to employ a thousand chemists. “ Thus,” adds Dr. Little, “ it has become the duty and the privilege of those of us who are familiar with this method and its application to preach the Gospel of Research.” H. L. Digestibility of Certa’in Miscellaneous Vegetable Fats.ARTHUR D. HOLB~ES and HARRY J. DENEL, JR., have found that the digestibility ccefficient of fats, which have melting points above body temperature, varies inversely with the melting point. The tolerence of a fat by the human body governs its use in the dietary. In the present paper (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1920, XLI, 227-235), these investigators have stu’died the digestibility of certain less commonly used fats, which may be of value in times of shortage of the more common fats. The fat of the avocado fruit is 87.9 per cent. digestible. Cohune oil, derived from the kernel of the cohune palm, Attalea colzune, of Central America, is 99.1 per cent. digestible. Cupuassti fat, which is expressed from the seeds of the cupuassti tree of Brazil, is 94.1 per cent. digestible. Hemp seed oil Palm kernel oil is pressed from the is 98.5 per cent. digestible. interior portion of the kernels of the fruit of the African palm tree, Elaesis guineellsis; it is 98.0 per cent. digestible. Poppy seed oil, which is produced in the Orient and is used as an edible oil in Europe, is 96.3 per cent. digestible. These oils and fats exerted no unusual effect on the utilization of the protein and the carbohydrate in the diet; none of them produced any abnormal physiological effect except cupuassil fat, which caused slight disturbances. J. S. H. Industrial Uses for the Shark and Porpoise are enumerated .by Dr. ALLEN ROGERS, in the Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, 1920, xxxix, Transactions, pp. 9-10. The sharks are caught in nets. The fins are removed, dried in the sun, and sold to Chinese as an ingredient for. soups. The skins are removed, fleshed by machines, pickled in stilt and sulphuric acid, and finally submitted to tanning processes to obtain either bag leather or shoe leather. The flesh and bonels are ground, then dried in a rotary dryer to obtain a fish scrap fertilizer which contains from 15 to 17 per cent. The livers are allowed to disof nitrogen calculated as ammonia. integrate for several days. then are heated to boiling for approximately one hour in steam-jacketed kettles to remove the oil, which
CURREXT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
characterized as a chemist’s war, and chemistry has permeated every aspect of it. The chemists of all the belligerent countries have been organized into the equivalent of what we have termed the Chemical Warfare Service, and for the time, to which we may now happily refer in the past tense, the entire chemical brain and energy of each combatant nation was engaged in the solution of problems of offense and defense.” A single producer found it necessary to employ a thousand chemists. “ Thus,” adds Dr. Little, “ it has become the duty and the privilege of those of us who are familiar with this method and its application to preach the Gospel of Research.” H. L. Digestibility of Certa’in Miscellaneous Vegetable Fats.ARTHUR D. HOLB~ES and HARRY J. DENEL, JR., have found that the digestibility ccefficient of fats, which have melting points above body temperature, varies inversely with the melting point. The tolerence of a fat by the human body governs its use in the dietary. In the present paper (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1920, XLI, 227-235), these investigators have stu’died the digestibility of certain less commonly used fats, which may be of value in times of shortage of the more common fats. The fat of the avocado fruit is 87.9 per cent. digestible. Cohune oil, derived from the kernel of the cohune palm, Attalea colzune, of Central America, is 99.1 per cent. digestible. Cupuassti fat, which is expressed from the seeds of the cupuassti tree of Brazil, is 94.1 per cent. digestible. Hemp seed oil Palm kernel oil is pressed from the is 98.5 per cent. digestible. interior portion of the kernels of the fruit of the African palm tree, Elaesis guineellsis; it is 98.0 per cent. digestible. Poppy seed oil, which is produced in the Orient and is used as an edible oil in Europe, is 96.3 per cent. digestible. These oils and fats exerted no unusual effect on the utilization of the protein and the carbohydrate in the diet; none of them produced any abnormal physiological effect except cupuassil fat, which caused slight disturbances. J. S. H. Industrial Uses for the Shark and Porpoise are enumerated .by Dr. ALLEN ROGERS, in the Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, 1920, xxxix, Transactions, pp. 9-10. The sharks are caught in nets. The fins are removed, dried in the sun, and sold to Chinese as an ingredient for. soups. The skins are removed, fleshed by machines, pickled in stilt and sulphuric acid, and finally submitted to tanning processes to obtain either bag leather or shoe leather. The flesh and bonels are ground, then dried in a rotary dryer to obtain a fish scrap fertilizer which contains from 15 to 17 per cent. The livers are allowed to disof nitrogen calculated as ammonia. integrate for several days. then are heated to boiling for approximately one hour in steam-jacketed kettles to remove the oil, which