CHLORIDE OF SODIUM. 37 



abundance. When the nutrition of organs takes place, which 

 consists in the fixation of new proximate principles, chloride 

 of sodium is not deposited in any considerable quantity, but 

 seems to regulate the general process, at least to a certain 

 extent. In all civilized countries salt is used extensively as 

 a condiment, and it undoubtedly facilitates digestion by ren- 

 dering the food more savory, and increasing the flow of the 

 digestive fhiids ; here, likewise, acting simply as an interme- 

 diate agent. There is nothing more general among men and 

 animals than this desire for common salt. The carnivora 

 crave it, and obtain it in the blood of animals ; the herbivora 

 frequent " salt licks " and places where it is found, and relish 

 it when mixed with their food ; while by man its use is 

 almost universal. In the domestic herbivora the effect of 

 a deprivation of this article is very marked, and has been 

 made the subject of some very interesting experiments by 

 Boussingault. This observer experimented upon two lots 

 of bullocks, of three each, all of them, at the time the ob- 

 servations were commenced, being perfectly healthy and in 

 fine condition. One of these lots he deprived entirely of salt, 

 excepting what was contained in their fodder, while the other 

 was supplied with the usual quantity. No marked difference 

 in the two lots was noticed until between five and six months, 

 when the difference in general appearance was very distinct. 

 The animals receiving salt retained their fine appearance, 

 while the others, though not diminished in flesh, were not as 

 sleek and fine. At the end of a year the difference was very 

 marked. The hides of those which had been deprived of salt 

 were rough and ragged, their appearance listless and inani- 

 mate, contrasting strongly with the sleek appearance and 

 vivacious disposition of the others. 1 The experiments of 

 Boussingault are the most conclusive that have ever been 

 instituted with regard to the influence of chloride of sodium 



1 BOUSSINGAULT, Memoir es de Chimie Agricote et de Physiologic, Paris, 1854, 

 p. 271 ct seq. 



