Annual Report for 1911 of the Consulting Chemist. 369 



" Bastol Meal," there is a cake, composed of the meal with 

 other materials such as earth-nut, rice-meal, &c., the whole 

 being pressed into cake and called "Bastol Cake."' Analyses 

 of these products are here given : — 



Moisture ..... 



Oil (ether extract) .... 



Albuminoids (N x 6-25) . 

 Soluble carbohydrates and digestible 

 fibre ...... 



Indigestible woody fibre. 

 Mineral matter • . 



The original material which forms the base of both " Bastol 

 Meal " and " Bastol Cake " is ordinarj' sawdust. This is sub- 

 jected to a process of digesting with acids, and it is maintained 

 that by this process the sawdust becomes to a large extent 

 transformed into other bodies, and loses its hard structure and 

 unpalatable qualities. As the result of the process undergone 

 it is shown that a certain amount of " soluble sugars " are 

 formed, to which a feeding value attaches, and that the remain- 

 ing fibre is so altered as to become largely capable of digestion, 

 and to be altogether changed mechanically. In the end the 

 material, it is maintained, is capable of forming a feeding 

 material, and is to be so considered. In support of the con- 

 tention, experiments with straw pulp, conducted in Germany 

 by Dr. Kellner, are put forward as showing that woody tibre 

 thus treated can be utilised by animals. 



I should jDoint out, however, that other materials of like 

 nature, e.g., rice-husks (" shudes ") have been declared to be 

 " worthless for feeding purposes " within the meaning of the 

 Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, and, if present in a feeding 

 mixture, their presence must l)e clearly disclosed at the time 

 of the sale. Yet it could very well be shown that rice-husk, 

 if judged on the standard applied to "Bastol" possesses some 

 feeding properties. Not only does it contain a certain amount 

 of oil and albuminoids, but it can be shown that, under the 

 action of acids and alkalies (which is, in a way, the counter- 

 part of what goes on in the animal), the fibre undergoes partial 

 conversion into digestible carbo-hydrates. So it is with many 

 other materials generally considered as unfit ones for "food," 

 for they would all undergo a certain amount of " conversion " in 

 the animal economj'. In fact there is hardly anything that, 



• "Bastol Meal" is stated to be composed of two-thirds treated wood fibre 

 and one-thii'il molasses, 



VOL. 72. BB 



