98 



HEALTH AND DISEASE 



imperfectly digested, the fatty ratio falling from 1:4"1 to 1:12 after diges- 

 tion. Otherwise the nutritive value of the food is raised, as the cellulose is 

 excluded from the calculation. 



In the. above table it is clearly demonstrated that only a certain amount 

 of the digestible matter is appropriated by the animal's system; thus the 

 total diet contained: albuminoids 2'18 lb., fats - 84 11)., carbohydrates 

 10"61 lb., cellulose 4'50 lb.; while the system of the horse only appro- 

 priated: albuminoids 1'6 lb., fat '5 lb., carbohydrates 6 "9 lb., and cellulose 

 1'5 lb. In other words, only 10'5 lb. out of the total of 1 8 ' 1 3 lb. was 

 assimilated. 



Comparing the feeding values of different foods, the method of estab- 

 lishing a nutritive equivalent is adopted. Taking one typical food as repre- 

 sented by 100, every food containing the same amount of nitrogen as the 

 typical food is considered to be equal to it, i.e. 100. A food, however, 

 which contains twice the amount of nitrogen would have for its nutritive 

 equivalent 50, because half the amount would be equal to the typical food; 

 but if it possessed half the amount of nitrogen, its equivalent would be 

 200, as it would take twice as much food to contain the amount of the 

 typical food. 



