408 



STATE BOARD OF AGKICULTURE. 



We find the same (lifferencc in the force-forming nature of different food- 

 materials. In sugar and starch we find carbon united with liydrogen and oxy- 

 gen, in very much the same way as in wood, and it is only the carbon part 

 which gives force. In fat we find the carbon combined with hydrogen and 

 only a very small part of oxygen, so that both the carbon and hydrogen are 

 almost entirely in the unoxidized form, and hence capable of producing an 

 increased amount of force as compared with the same Aveight of sugar or 

 starch. (Ci, H„o On=sugar. Cjo H,8 0=fat.) One pound of fat 

 is found to be capable of producing as much heat when burned as two 

 and a half pounds of sugar or starch, and hence the force-forming power of 

 fat whether burned outside the body or oxydized within it, is estimated at 2^ 

 times that of sugar or starch. On the other hand the theoretical value of su- 

 gar and starch is nearly the same, and the elaborate experiments of Lawes and 

 Lxilbert show that these substances have very nearly the same value in animal 

 nutrition. The quantity of oxygen required to oxidize 100 parts of fat is 293, 

 of starch 120, and of grape sugar lOG, and the quantity of heat or force which 

 they would produce would be in the same proportion ; their heat-forming and 

 their force-forming power are in the same proportion. The steam generated 

 in a boiler may be used to warm a building or drive an engine, or a part of the 

 steam may be used for warming and the rest for work. Just so in the animal 

 economy, a part of the force of the carbohydrates is used to warm the animal 

 and the balance to do his work of every kind. 



Let us turn from this theoretical discussion to the consideration of the na- 

 ture of the food-materials which we have come together to consider. I present 



THE TABLES OF AKALYSIS 



Of Indian Corns raised in Michigan in 1877, and of various grades of Mill-stuffs obtained 

 in Lansing, — the whole analyzed in the Laboratory of the b'tate Agricultural College: 



