FOOD 109 



digestive fluid, as well as the action of the teeth, and remained as perfectly 

 intact as though it had been brought from the store, instead of being taken 

 from the stomach. In fact, a portion of it, after being washed and dried, 

 presented quite the ordinary appearance. The test may be taken as a 

 crucial one, as the grain had been macerated in the first compartment 

 of the deer's stomach, re -masticated during the process of rumination, 

 passed through two other compartments of the stomach, and finally, in 

 the fourth compartment, had been subjected to the action of the gastric 

 juice. 



Wheat appears to be a favourite article of diet with horses, and it 

 is stated that they will, if allowed, gorge themselves with it, with 

 serious consequences. Colic, tympany, and other ailments are the result 

 of taking too large quantities. It has also been accused of being the 

 cause of laminitis, or fever in the feet of the horse. Recently experiments 

 by Dr. Voelcker have shown that, at its present price, it may be used 

 with economy for feeding sheep. 



Bran is constantly used in horse provender in mixture with oats and 

 chaff. It is extremely rich in nitrogenous matter, and contains also a con- 

 siderable quantity of carbohydrates and fatty matter. Formerly it was 

 used as a food for horses in some parts of the country much more extensively 

 than it is at present. It is stated that, as an exclusive food for horses, it is 

 absolutely useless; but the writer remembers one establishment where all 

 the cart-horses were fed upon bran alone, of course in unlimited quantity. 

 The animals were all of them fat, and had remarkably glossy coats. Whether 

 or not they would have borne an average amount of work cannot be stated, 

 as the owner of the horses was a conspicuous member of the Society for 

 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and took great pride in treating his 

 horses with the greatest consideration. They were never consequently 

 called upon to do any hard work, but of the fact that they lived exclusively 

 upon bran and looked remarkably well there is no doubt. 



For practical purposes, bran can only be used with advantage to a 

 limited extent in mixture with other food, as has already been pointed 

 out. It is largely used in the sick stable in the form of mash, which is 

 made by pouring over it a small quantity of boiling water, and allowing it 

 to remain until it is cool. It is also the custom in many stables to give 

 horses a bran mash once or twice a week, and the practice has very much 

 to recommend it. It has already been suggested that a handful or two 

 mixed with the regular rations has the effect of inducing an animal to 

 masticate the whole of the food with which it is mixed, and is, therefore, 

 particularly desirable as an adjunct to the rations of the horses which are 

 known as gross feeders. If the digestive organs of grain- and herb-feeding; 



