j^EW YoBK Ageicultueal Expeeiment Station. 119 



sium and magnesium was about the same in the fifth period as in 

 the third; a httle more water was consumed but the feces were 

 somewhat drier. If the laxative effect of wheat bran is due to the 

 phytin anion, one would expect a wetter feces in the fourth period 

 when 175 grams of calcium phytate was administered with the 

 rations, but the dung of this period contained less water than that 

 of any other. It is interesting to note however that the average 

 moisture content of the dung of the second four days after the 

 beginning of the phytate feeding was 87.6 per ct. but it soon dropped 

 and gave an average for the period of less than eighty per ct. It 

 is a peculiar incident that the cow desired more water when the 

 moisture in each hundred grams of feces became less. The intake 

 of water seems not to influence the amount of this substance passed 

 out through the intestine. 



It has been noted a1)ove that the volume of the milk changed in 

 an inverse order to the amount of phosphorus intake, as may be 

 seen from the table of water intake and outgo. (Table X.) 

 The volume of urine shows no parallelism either with the amounts 

 of phosphorus or of water ingested and therefore differs from 

 previous experience in this series of problems. It is probably 

 another peculiar coincidence that the water intake and water outgo 

 in the urine if plotted give curves which run in opposite directions 

 to one another. There is however a suggestion that the urine 

 fluctuates inversely with the temperature of the atmosphere, which 

 is probably accounted for by differences in the amount of perspira- 

 tion. A curve plotted from the figures obtained by subtracting the 

 values for the water content of dung, urine and milk from those 

 for the water content of the ration (column 9, Table VHI) resembles 

 a similar curve plotted for the atmospheric temperature during the 

 time of the experiment. In the fourth and fifth periods the differ- 

 ences between the temperature and the water balance are such 

 as to lead one to suspect a marked retention of water. The moisture 

 elations in the problem are probably significant, but under the circum- 

 stances, inasmuch as a calorimeter was not available, actual determi- 

 nations could not be made, and a true water balance is therefore 

 impossible. 



GENERAL PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITION. 



At the beginning of the experiment, the animal was in good health, 

 and the rations were so planned that she should have an abundance 

 both of protein and carbohydrates. During the experiment, the 

 cow gained 19 kilos in body weight. At first she ate well, cleaning 

 up all the rations offered, iDut beginning with the 17th day, ten 

 days after washed bran had first been administered in place of 

 the whole bran, she refused varying amounts of feed. The intro- 

 duction of small amounts of aromatic substances did not seem to 



