146 SCIENTIFIC FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



water, 10 oz. of wheat flour, 10 oz. of ground malt, 

 and J oz. potassium bicarbonate. The method of 

 preparation is as follows. The flour is boiled with 

 the water and half of the milk to form a porridge, 

 and when this is cold the other half of the milk, in 

 which the potassium bicarbonate is dissolved, is 

 added, and the ground malt stirred in. The mix- 

 ture is then allowed to stand for half an hour in a 

 warm place, then once more boiled and sieved 

 through muslin. Lately saccharified starch has 

 been recommended as an addition to skim milk in 

 the rearing of calves ; further particulars regarding 

 this will be found in the third part of this volume. 



9. The predigestion of food by gastric or pan- 

 creatic juice has been tried on waste meat and fish 

 products, blood from slaughter houses, milk and 

 waste dairy products. This is an entirely useless 

 process, for the above products require no pre- 

 digestion, being easily digested by a normal animal, 

 and the process takes place better in the body than 

 outside of it. It is certainly no accident that 

 the proteins as a rule enter the digestive apparatus 

 in an insoluble form. Even where they are in a 

 fluid state, as in milk, they are curdled in the 

 stomach in order to be gradually digested (p. 23). 

 Healthy animals do far better without artificial 

 digestion of their food, and sick ones require profes- 

 sional treatment, not the undiscerning use of any 

 artificial nutrient. 



