Whether  fats  so  altered  in  their  chemical  constants  by  high  temperature
are  utilized  by  the  body  in  the  same  way  as  unheated  fats  is  a  question  which
very  naturally  arises.  Langworthy  and  Holmes^  report  high  digestibility  of
some  animal  and  vegetable  fats  in  which  heating  was  carefully  avoided;  and
Smith,  Miller,  and  Hawk*  found  hydrogenated  cottonseed  oil  to  be  as  satis-
factorily utilized  by  normal  adults  as  lard.  The  latter  investigators  fed  their
fats  in  fried  potatoes.
All  the  points  mentioned  thus  far  are  ones  which  need  investigation —
the  amounts  of  different  fats  absorbed  by  various  types  of  fried  foods
under  different  conditions  of  time  and  temperature ;  the  kind  and  extent
of  decomposition  which  takes  place  in  the  fats  absorbed;  the  effect  of

*  Holmes,  A  D.,  and  Lang,  H.  L.,  Fats  and  Their  Economical  Use  in  the  Home.  U,  S.
Depi,  Ap,  Bui,  No.  469  (1916).
*  Williams,  A.  W.,  and  Gray,  C.  E.,  Fats  and  Oils  in  Cookery.  Univ.  of  lU.  Bui.  No.  47
(1917).
^  McKee,  M.  C,  Fat  Absorption  in  Frying  Doughnuts.  Jour.  Borne  Econ.f  10  (1918),
p.  18.
*  Langworthy,  C.  F.,  and  Holmes,  A.  D.,  Digestibility  of  Some  Animal  Fats.  U.  S.
Dept.  Agr.  Bui.  No.  310  (1915);  and  Digestibility  of  Some  Vegetable  Fats.  U.  S.  Dept.
Agr.  Bui.  No.  505  (1917).
*  Smith,  C.  A.,  Miller,  R.  J.,  and  Hawk,  P.  B.,  Studies  on  the  Relative  Digestibility  and
Utilization  by  the  Human  Body  of  Lard  and  Hydrogenated  Vegetable  Oil.    Jour.  Biol.
Ml.,  23  (1915),  p.  505.
442  THB  JOURNAL  OF  HOME  £CX>NOMICS  [October

this  decomposition  on  the  digestibility  of  the  fat.    This  paper  gives
some  experimental  data  on  the  first  two  points.
