Evening star., 1939-04-05
Whey, Formerly Fed to Pigs,
Is Vitun1in Treasure Chest
U. S. Chemists Discover Method of
Recovering Valuable Milk Sugar

lists, 1t was reported by Drs. E. c.
| Whittier and S. P. Gould, who
were granted the first American
patent on the process two months
| ago.
The skim milk, they explained, is
first soured naturally or by adding
acid. A curd forms, which is
SKINNED of. This is casein, hith-
erto used chiefly to make cheese and
buttons. 1t is then dissolved in an
alkali solution, and various metal
compounds and acids from fats are
added. The solution then is forced
under pressure through tiny holes
in a platinum disk, from which it
emerges in the form of a wool-like
fiber. This Is subjected to various
chemical processes, which strength
en- and bleach it, after which it Is
spun into yarn.
Chemically, DR.. Whittier said, the
product is very close to wool. In
other words, sheep makes wool
out of about the same things as a
cow uses to make milk. It can be
dyed with the same dyes and laun-
dered by the same methods as wool.
The fiber is by no means strong, he
said, but it will not shrink so cas-
lily.
Cost Approaches Rayon.
With the approved methods, DR..
Whittier told his fellow chemists,
the cost of the new product should
be about the same as that Of rayOn.
There appears real need" he
said. for an inexpensive fiber to be
used in mixture with wool SO that
fabrics containing wool may be
more widely available to people of
meager incomes. Rayon is being
used for this purpose at present,
but casein fiber has the important
advantages that it can be dyed
with wool dyes and laundered by
the same methods. We have a po-
tential annual supply Of 1000, 900 900
pounds of casein or casein fiber in
addition to that now converted into
manufactured purposes. This is
equal to over half the world pro-
duction of rayon and is twice the
consumption of wool In the United
States"
Snow-white egg yolks, the stuff
that makes Holsters turn red when
they are boiled and the stuff that
makes angry housewives berate their
grocers in early spring for selling
them allegedly spoiled eggs. were
occnCiotn1 in
day.
Every spring, a group of Kansas
State College chemists reported,
heavy losses are caused egg ship
perS because a lot of their fresh
eggs have olive-colored yolks. They
look as II they were bad, and GUS
toners will not pay for them. Seek
ing the cause of this phenomenon,
DR.. w. J. Peterson found that he
could cause hens to lay eggs with
these olive -colored yolks at will by
feeding them a molasses oat-grass
silage. That is what the farmers
were doing.
Made Yellow Pigments.
Chemical analysis of the yolks
showed that the phenomenon was
due to higher percentage of yell
low pigments than normal, which
produced the olive color when 1t
combined with the proteins of the
yolk. Then they turned to the lob
ster. Its eggs are repulsively blue
green and this is due to a bright
red pigment called astacene, the
same thing that makes the crus-
tacean red when it is thrust in boil
ing water, but which combines with
the egg proteins to form an entire
ly different color. Curiously enough,
chickens also contain astacene.
They synthesiZe it in their own
bodies and it plays some part In