ANIMALS. 125 



the sake of convenience, to class them together. The 

 fats are reckoned as worth 2.44 times as much as carbo- 

 hydrates ; hence, in combining the two, we multiply the 

 number of pounds of fat by 2.44, and add the number of 

 pounds of carbo-hydrates, giving what may be called the 

 equivalent of carbo-hydrates contained in the food. 



The question of food for any animal, and for any pur- 

 pose, becomes a question of the proper proportion of 

 albuminoids and carljo-hydrates. The animal needs, for 

 its special requirements, a certain definite proportion of 

 each. 



If we furnish a food containing too large a proportion 

 of either albuminoids or carbo-hydrates, the excess of 

 either above what is required to make up the proper pro- 

 portion for the given purpose may be in part wasted, and 

 may become an injury rather than a benefit to the ani- 

 mal. The animal nuist consume a larger quantity of the 

 food than would otherwise be necessary, in order to ol> 

 tain the required quantity of that substance in which the 

 food is most deficient. 



The Nutritive Ratio. — The nutritive ratio of a food is 

 simply the ratio, or relation, between the quantity of di- 

 gestible albuminoids, and of digestible carbo-hydrates or 

 their equivalents, which it contains. Average hay, for 

 instance, contains ahout eight times as much of digestible 

 carljo-hydrates as of all)uminoids, and hence the nutritive 

 ratio of the food is as 1 to 8. 



The following tables give the nutritive ratio of the 

 different kinds of food, and the number of pounds of 

 digestible albuminoids and carbo-hydrates which should 

 properly be contained in the daily ration of animals un- 

 der different circumstances, for one thousand pounds of 

 live weight. The quantity for animals weighing more or 



