336 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



had her killed, when, on examination, solid masses of the flax 

 were found within the stomach. 9 C 7 , 1871, in., 17. 



CONSTITUENTS OF THE MILK OF DIFFERENT ANIMALS. 



From an examination of different kinds of milk with refer- 

 ence to their solid constituents, it has been ascertained that 

 asses' milk is most diluted, containing scarcely 9 per cent, of 

 solid matter. Next comes human milk, with somewhat over 

 11 per cent., while mares' milk contains 17 per cent. The av- 

 erage is seen in the milk of the goat and of the cow. In ref- 

 erence to the percentage of casein and albumen, human milk 

 is poorest, containing only 4 per cent, of casein ; cows' milk 

 nearly 5 per cent., with more than one half per cent, of albu- 

 men. Again, goats' milk, with nearly 6 per cent, of casein 

 and albumen, as far as known, has a larger amount of albumen 

 than that of any other mammal. The smallest quantity of but- 

 ter is found in asses' milk; that of the goat containing the 

 largest, or nearly 7 per cent. Sheeps' milk is most nutritious, 

 as it contains llj per cent, of protein matters and hydrocar- 

 bons ; and while the milk of the cow contains only about 4 

 per cent, of milk sugar, that of the mare has 8 per cent., which 

 renders it very prone to alcoholic fermentation, and has giv- 

 en rise to its employment by the Tartars in the production 

 of an intoxicating liquor known as quass. 17 A, September, 

 131. 



THEORY OF FATTENING ANIMALS. 



An important suggestion has been made by Mr. Lawes, of 

 England, on the waste of food during respiration, and its re- 

 lationship to the fattening of animals. He remarks that in 

 the case of animals fed for the butcher, the economy of the 

 feeding process will be the greater, the less the amount of 

 food expended by respiration, in the production of a given 

 amount of increase ; and it is equally obvious that one ready 

 and efficient means of lessening the proportion of waste or 

 expenditure to the increase of the products is to lessen, as far 

 as possible, the time taken to produce it. In other* words, to 

 fatten as quickly as possible. Thus, from experiments made 

 by him, he assures us that a pig weighing 100 pounds w T ill, if 

 supplied with as much barley meal as he can eat, consume 

 500 pounds of it, and double his weight that is, increase 



