THE FEEDING OF FARM STOCK. 773 



-•• few notes are not intended to do anything more than to draw 

 attention to the general principles of the Buoject, and to the different points 

 which have to be considered in devising a suitable ration for different classes 

 of farm stock. 



These points may be summed up as follows : — 

 Kind of animal. 



Purpose of feeding. 



Composition of fodders of which the ration is composed. 



Proportions of digestible nutriment in the ration. 



Cost of the different fodders of which the ration is composed. 



Manurial value of excreta. 



Palatability. variety, bulk. &c. 



Vitamin es. 



In devising a ration, whether for men or animals, we have nowadays to 

 into' account an additional factor hitherto unknown and about which 



little is understood at the present time, namely, the vitamine content. The 

 literature on this subject is voluminous and for the most part so highly 

 technical and specialised that it is difficult to extract matter that can be 

 reproduced in a form suitable to the general reader. Furthermore, the 

 experimental work has hitherto been carried out principally in substances 

 used as food for human beings, and very little beyond generalisation is 

 possible in the discussion of stock foods. The following fewnotes may serve to 

 indicate the facts already established and the chief points to be considered 



Interest was hist aroused in the subject when a disease known as beri-btii 

 was found to occur amongst people who subsisted on a diet of nulled rice. 

 Eijkman reproduced this disease in pigeons by feeding them on milled rice, 

 and Fiaser and Stanton were able to show that the disease (poly-neuritis), 

 could lie cured by feeding of rice-millings. Funk, in 1911, thought that he 

 had isolated the active ingredient present in the rice-millin«s. and called it 

 " vitamine." This was a specific for beri-beri, and was called anti-beri-beri 

 >r anti-neuritic vitamine. 



The term vitamine is perhaps unfortunate and misleading. Tt was given 

 by Funk, who thought that he had isolated a definite chemical compound 

 having a composition analogous to that possessed by a group of organic 

 substances known as amines, the prefix "vita" being added on account of 

 their supposed importance to life. 



The compound was not, however, isolated by Funk, and has not so far been 

 prepared by anybody in a pure state. On this account, no doubt, many 

 chemists are dubious as to the existence of any such body or bodies, and the 

 misleading designation does not help to allay the doubts. 



The nomenclature of the vitamines is rather confusing, as English and 

 American authorities adopt somewhat different designations. There are at 

 present three principal substances recognised as vitamines (though the num- 

 ber is generally regarded as being increased to five by the subdivision of the 

 functions of two of them), to which the following names have been given: — 



1. Anti beriberi, Anti-neuritic, <>>■ Watersohibh />'. -This was the first 

 vitamine to be recognised, as has been explained. It is found in all natural 

 foodstuffs, that is, in raw foods. It is comparatively plentiful in seeds of 

 plants, and in eggs, and it is also plentiful in cellular organs, such as liver and 



