PART II. THE REQUIREMENTS OF 

 ANIMALS 



CHAPTER VIII 



NUTRITION 



Composition of Animal Bodies. The term "nutrition," as 

 applied Lo animals, may be roughly denned as the building up of 

 their bodies. It includes all the processes of growth, from birth 

 to maturity, of increase in fattening, of repair of the waste which 

 never ceases in any condition during life, and, incidentally, the 

 processes of attrition themselves. The study of these questions 

 belongs primarily to the domain of physiology, but many of 

 them can be approached only from a chemical standpoint. 

 The fundamental considerations are, of course, the chemical 

 composition of the animal bodies, of the food out of which 

 their substance is formed, and the changes involved in the 

 transformation of the latter into the former. 



Physiologically, the bodies of animals consist mainly of 

 the skeleton, flesh (including fat and skin), organs or viscera, 

 and the blood and nervous systems. The heart and lungs are 

 situated in the thorax or chest and are called the thoracic 

 viscera. The stomach, gut or intestines and the glands liver, 

 spleen, pancreas, etc. connected with the same are situated 

 in the belly or abdomen, and are collectively known as the 

 abdominal viscera. 



The skeleton supports the whole structure and gives form 

 to the body. The bones of which it is made up are composed 



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