CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 275 



dried them in a water bath for several days, and thus ascertained the loss 

 which each sustained by desiccation : 



FIRST EXPERIMENT. SECOND EXPERIMENT. 



Solid Matter. Water. Solid Matter. Water. 



Pork, . . . 29.45 70.55 30.25 69.75 



Beef, . . . 27.70 72.30 27.50 72.50 



Wether mutton, . 26.55 73.45 26.35 73.65 



Chicken, . . 26.35 73.65 26.30 73.70 



Teal, . . . 26.00 74.00 25.55 74.45 



According to these numbers, we should arrange the meats in the follow- 

 ing order of their relative nutritive powers : pork, beef, mutton, chicken, 

 veal. This order is, however, not the true one ; because the leanest 

 meat contains a certain amount of fat, and because this substance is not 

 so important an article of food as the pure muscles, it is necessary to ascer- 

 tain how much a certain quantity of meats contain before we can judge 

 properly of its relative nutritive value. M. Marchal accordingly treated 

 the dried flesh with ether to dissolve out the fat, and obtained the following 



results : 



Pure muscle 

 Fat soluble in ether. insoluble in ether. 



Beef, 2.54 24.95 



Chicken, .... 1.40 24.87 



Pork, 5.97 24.27 



Mutton, . . . . 2.96 23.38 



Veal, 2.87 22.67 



The last table shows that the true order should be beef, chicken, pork, 

 mutton and veal, a result which experience confirms. It may, however, 

 be remarked, that there is considerable difference between the same kind 

 of meat derived from different animals, and that the same amount of two 

 different kinds of beef broth, both containing the same amount of water, 

 may have different nutritive values. Comptes Rendus de I' Academic. 



ON THE VALUE OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME IN NUTRITION. 



In the Bulletin de I' Academic Impcriale de Mddecine, for January, 1854, 

 we find a report by M. Mouries, in regard to the effects of phosphate of 

 lime in the nutrition of animals, and the influence which the judicious 

 employment of this salt is capable of exercising upon the mortality of 

 children in large cities. 



It has been a comparatively short period since physiologists began to 

 appreciate properly the importance of inorganic principles in the phe- 

 nomena of life. The farther we penetrate into this complex problem, the 

 greater is the importance attributed to bodies, the presence of which in the 

 rmman organism was regarded as quite accidental. 



Very dissimilar organic compounds may be substituted for each other 



