EDITORIAL. 107 



them intelligently — an experience which has not been unusual in the 

 past. If, for example, in a practical feeding trial including equal 

 amounts of protein materials from different sources different results 

 are secured from those expected, we are thrown into confusion be- 

 cause having assumed all proteins to be alike we have no explanation 

 to offer. The investigation of these bodies has made the experi- 

 mental feeder more resourceful in planning and interpreting his 

 work. 



Dr. Armsby has well said : " If we believe at all in the utility of 

 applied science, surely we must believe that a study of the intricate 

 workings of the animal machine will yield results of practical value, 

 even though we can not foresee in just what direction." 



Animal feeding is by no means a matter of applied mathematics, 

 as was long ago said, but there are certain physiological principles 

 and laws which the animal body follows in the handling and utiliza- 

 tion of food, and the Imowledge of these must constitute the basis 

 not only for the theory but for the right practice of feeding. It is 

 reasonable to suppose that the necessity for investigation in this line 

 should have impressed itself, and that there should have been a 

 steady development in that direction, along with the experiments of 

 more direct application. 



It is clear, of course, that such questions as the maintenance re- 

 quirements of animals, the interesting question of the influence of 

 feed supply on growth, the protein requirements of farm animals, 

 the functions of protein in the mechanism of the liberation of energy 

 for work, can never be solved by the methods of the common feeding 

 experiment. They call for all the resources of physiological investi- 

 gation. They tax man's ability and ingenuity and perception to the 

 utmost. The field offers all the inspiration of opportunity for the 

 very best research ability. Some of these subjects and such questions 

 as the constitution and nutritive value of proteins, the function and 

 transformation of nucleo-proteins, and the metabolism of these and 

 other bodies are being studied by physiologists and physiological 

 chemists and not by the animal husbandmen. This is natural, and is 

 immaterial as long as the latter take heed of the results of such work 

 and apply them in their experiments and their teachings. It is not 

 alone benevolent tolerance that is desired for such research, but in- 

 telligent and active support for it and a measure of participation in 

 it b}^ those who stand for animal husbandry. 



The nature of the subjects which need to be studied and taken 

 account of in their bearing on animal nutrition, and the trend of 

 investigation under way, have been effectively set forth at several 

 sessions of the Graduate School in a way to open up the broader 

 relations of the subject, and also in the proceedings of the American 

 Society of Animal Nutrition. Such study does not always require a 

 28054°— 14 2 



