

160 THE HORSE L1EB1O ALCOHOL. 



gar and oils are not required for the production of the blood. The 

 amount of nitrogenized food is amply sufficient for the growth and to 

 supply the waste of the organs of all animals. 



It has been found that a horse will consume, in 24 hours, 7,500 

 parts of fresh hay, 2,270 of oats, and 16,000 of water total 25,770, 

 containing 3,938 parts carbon, 446 hydrogen, 139 nitrogen, 3,209 oxy- 

 gen, and 672 of salts and earthy matters. In this time the excretions 

 are, urine 1,330, faeces 14,250 -total 15,580; which, deducted from 

 the food eaten, leaves 10,190 excess of food, but a loss in salts and 

 earthy matter of 12. The excess of food in a dry state is 4,565, and 

 of the elements of carbon 2,465, hydrogen 255, nitrogen 24, and oxy- 

 gen 1,846. Deducting the nitrogen of the excretion from that of the 

 food, the surplus is 370 grs..troy. Thus, if the blood contain 80 per 

 cent, of water, and 20 per cent, of dry residue, of which 15 per cent, 

 is nitrogen, 370 grs. will form 2,457 grs. of dried blood, or 1| pounds 

 adv. of common blood daily. The surplus carbon to be thrown out of 

 the system by the lungs and skin in the form of carbonic acid is also 

 shown to be equal to about 4 pounds adv. Hence it follows that ni- 

 trogenized foods are alone converted into blood and organized tissues 

 that such of these as contain proteine alone form albumenous and 

 fibrinous tissues that gelatine is not converted into blood, but may 

 form gelatinous tissues ; as the membranes, cartilage, and cellular 

 tissues ; and that the non-nitrogenized foods form fat, the carbon and 

 hydrogen of which are burned in the lungs, and thus produce animal 

 heat. 



These are deductions from, or positions of Liebig, but statements 

 have been adduced to controvert some of these, with other positions of 

 that bold and accomplished author. We believe, however, that at the 

 present stage of chemical research, Leibig's views will not easily be 

 impaired. No author has of late thrown so much light on animal and 

 vegetable physiology as Liebig, from whom many of these principles 

 are gathered ; and we perceive that Dr. Pereira, whose order of ar- 

 rangement we have observed, has, in most cases, given due credit to 

 that author. Dr. Prout, Boussingault, and others also agree in most 

 respects with that writer. 



Alcohol, as well as sugar and fat, is one of the elements of respira- 

 tion, when taken, and is burned in the lungs. It is absorbed, but does 

 not pass off by the excretions. A large portion evidently escapes by 

 the lungs, after getting into the circulation, as perceived by the odor 

 of the breath. It does not contain the important elements (nitrogen, 

 sulphur and phosphorus) for the formation of tissues. When thus 

 burned in the lungs it is converted into carbonic acid and water, 

 evolves heat, and thereby elevates the temperature of the body. It is 

 emphatically, as Dr. Pereira says, "a fuel in the animal economy." 

 In common, language, it is taken in cold weather to keep warm, or to 



