of the University of Pennsylvania. 47 



result fatally, was shown by an analysis of the dis- 

 tilled water after the death of the fish ; traces only 

 of inorganic matter being found. 



II. The loss of carbohydrates involved in the 

 removal of bran, appears at first sight not inconsid- 

 erable, as it amounts to about 20 per cent, of the 

 carbohydrates present in the entire grain. The 

 members of this group represented in bran are 

 starch and cellulose. The former is present in ex- 

 tremely small amount, while the latter, as has been 

 proven by the experiments of Bonders, 1 Mulder, 2 

 and Poggiale, 3 is digestible in any noteworthy 

 degree 4 by the herbivora only. The observer last 

 named subjected a given weight of dry bran to the 

 successive actual digestions of two dogs and one hen, 

 and, thereafter, was able to recover over 65 per cent, 

 of its non-nitrogenous constituents. The loss in 

 cellulose was probably much less than that here in- 

 dicated, for we have found that during the macera- 

 tion of bran in the digestive tract, certain portions 



1 Nederl, Lancet, vol. vi. pp. 227, 244. 



2 Physiologische Chomic, p. 1024. 



3 Comptes-Rondus, vol. xxxvii. p. 173. 



4 See, also, Weiske (Centralblatt, No. 26, 1870), who finds 

 that a small percentage of cellulose, especially when cooked, 

 is dissolved in the human digestive tract. 



