126 PHYSIOLOGY AT THE FARM. 



fit to generate animal temperature by being transmitted to the 

 vessels of the lungs. It seems possible that an excess of such 

 kinds of food as are merely fitted to maintain animal tempera- 

 ture might sometimes be afforded, when the temperature de- 

 rived from the ordinary disintegration might be sufficient, 

 so all the labour of the system in their preparation might be 

 expended in vain. No doubt this can hardly occur when oxen 

 are in the course of being fattened for slaughter, since, if the 

 present amount of muscular disintegration be sufficient for the 

 maintenance of the standard of temperature, any superfluous 

 starch and sugar being changed into fat will be deposited in 

 the tissues, and improve the animal's condition. But in the 

 simple rearing of the young animal, during the period preced- 

 ing the preparation for the shambles, it seems obvious that 

 attention should be given to adjusting the due proportions of 

 azotised and non-azotised aliment that is to say, of flesh-form- 

 ing and heat-giving aliment. There is no doubt an appropriate 

 amount of muscular exercise required for the proper growth 

 and development of the young animal, even when its final 

 destination is merely the shambles ; so that it will always be 

 a point for skill to determine when the preponderance should 

 be given to the aliment which repairs the blood for mere 

 heat-giving, when to that which renews the blood after it has 

 been exhausted by the repair of the active organs of locomo- 

 tion. 



Thus the amount of muscular exercise necessary for the 

 perfect growth and development of the young animal is a 

 grave subject for consideration ; nor can trustworthy results 

 be expected from any source but observation and experience 

 under a large variation of circumstances. Physiology can only 

 point out the mode in which effects are produced, while the 

 data on which calculations can be founded must be determined 

 by actual experiment. 



