68 BUTTER, SUGAR, STARCH, &c. 



produced by the metamorphosis of organised parts, 

 which nature has destined to furnish the necessary 

 resistance to the action of the oxygen, and to pro- 

 duce animal heat. What is wanting for these pur- 

 poses an infinite wisdom has supplied to the young 

 animal in its natural food. 



The carbon and hydrogen of butter, and the car- 

 bon of the sugar of milk, no part of either of which 

 can yield blood, fibrine, or albumen, are destined 

 for the support of the respiratory process, at an age 

 when a greater resistance is opposed to the meta- 

 morphosis of existing organisms ; or, in other words, 

 to the production of compounds, which in the adult 

 state are jiroduced in quantity amply sufficient for 

 the purpose of respiration. 



The young animal receives the constituents of its 

 blood in the caseine of the milk. A metamorphosis 

 of existing organs goes on, for bile and urine are 

 secreted ; the matter of the metamorphosed parts is 

 given off in the form of urine, of carbonic acid, and 

 of water; but the butter and sugar of milk also 

 disappear; they cannot be detected in the faeces. 



The butter and sugar of milk are given out in the 

 form of carbonic acid and water, and their conver- 

 sion into oxidised products furnishes the clearest 

 proof that far more oxygen is absorbed than is re- 

 quired to convert the carbon and hydrogen of the 

 metamorphosed tissues into carbonic acid and water. 



The change and metamorphosis of organised tis- 

 sues going on in the vital process in the young 



