The relationships that exist among soils, plants and phosphatic fertilizer are not only numerous in their nature but also complex. The classification of the different soils into proper groups and families is one factor which has been valuable in assessing the general nature of each sail. [...]

The effects of the administration of gonadal hormones to immature pullets and cockerels have been studied widely. Most of the biochemical work has been carried out during the past ten years, and certain resultant changes in the composition of the blood and liver are well known. [...]

The development of a soil profile has been attributed to the acidic substances derived from the decomposition of the organic matter deposited naturally on the soil surface. That such substances actively engage in soil development has been concluded from examination of profiles in the field. [...]

The application of protein hydrolysates to high protein therapy has been studied by many workers during the last decade. The results of their work have led to the widespread clinical use of protein hydrolysates for intravenous injection. Both enzymic and acid hydrolysates of casein and lactalbumin have been found satistactory for this purpose. [...]

In 1947 investigations were begun at Macdonald College to obtain information on the mechanism of translocation of elements, particularly iron and aluminium within the profile of podsolized soils. [...]

A number of the constituents of foods, including unsaturated lipids, lipid-and water-soluble vitamins, pigments and flavouring substances, are capable of reacting with atmospheric oxygen, during the interval between the preparation and consumption of food. These oxidative processes do not proceed in the living tissues in spite of the presence of complicated oxidation - reduction systems in the cell; this fact is ordinarily ascribed to the maintenance of a highly specific state of organization of these systems in the living cell. [...]

The serum proteins of the fowl have been fractionated by filter paper electrophoresis. Sera from sexually immature pullets yielded an albumin and five major globulin fractions. Highly lipemic sera of laying hens or estrogenized pullets fractionated by use of a methanolic veronal buffer yielded the foregoing six major fractions together with a double phosphoprotein-phospholipid fraction.

The composition of the blood and other tissues of the fowl at different stages of the life cycle has been studied by various workers. From the standpoint of physiological chemistry, particular interest has been attached to the changes which take place at the onset of sexual maturity in the female bird. These changes are closely related to endocrine activity as in the mammal; and at the same time they present numerous special features which are not present in the mammal and which are related to the production by the bird of a relatively large cleidoic egg.

In oviparous vertebrates each period of egg production is associated with profound changes in blood chemistry, in physiology and in morphology of the female. The plasma changes include increased concentrations of certain proteins, lipids, vitamins and minerals and these changes are considered to be related to the mobilization of these compounds for egg formation. In addition to the normal puberal changes, which, as in the mammal, are related to endocrine activity, similar and even greater increases in these plasma constituents result from estrogen treatment of birds of either sex or of castrates.

It is recognised that oestrogenic action plays a central role in the physiology and biochemistry of avian reproduction. The hypertrophy and functions of the oviduct, the production of yolk material by the liver, and the involvement of the bony skeleton in the metabolism and transport of the materials of the egg yolk and egg shell are among the more obvious of the functions involved. These matters have been the subject of reviews by Lorenz (1954), Sturkie (1958), Urist (1959) and van Tienhoven (1959). They have also been the subject of various studies in this laboratory in the course of the past twelve years.