EXTRACT S F OREIGN AND DOMESTIC. 327 



MEMOIR ON THE DISTRIBUTION OR APPROPRIATION 

 OF LANDS.* 



BT PROFESSOR LIEBIG. 



The most attentive investigations concerning the animal bodies 

 have shown that the blood, the bones, the hair, &c., as well as all 

 the organs, contain a certain number of mineral substances. If 

 these were not present in the food, their formation could not take 

 place. 



The blood contains potassa and soda, as well as compounds of 

 these bases with phosphoric acid. The bile is rich in alkalies ; the 

 substance of the muscles contains a certain quantity of sulphur ; 

 the red coloring matter of the blood contains iron ; the most impor 

 tant principle of the bones is phosphate of lime ; the nervous and 

 3elebral substance contains phosphoric acid and alkaline phosphates; 

 Ithe gastric juice, free hydrochloric acid. 



' We know that the free hydrochloric acid of the gastric juice, 

 imd a portion of the soda in the blood, arise from chloride of so- 

 liium ; and that, by the simple privation of this salt,^ we put an 

 end to digestion and life. 



If we give for nourishment, to a young pigeon [Chossafy Cumpfes 

 'Rendus de VAcademi des Sciences, June, 1843), grains of wheat, 

 \n which the most important principle of its bones, phosphate of 

 lime, is wanting, and if it be prevented from procuring elsewhere, 

 the lime which is necessary for it, we perceive that its bones be- 

 ;ome more and more thin and fragile, and that the continued de- 

 privation of this substance produces death. If we suppress the 

 carbonate of lime in the nourishment of birds, they lay eggs de- 

 srived of the hard protective shell. 



If we feed a cow with an excess of tubercles and roots, such as 

 )otatoes and beet-root, which contain phosphate of magnesia, but 

 ^)nly traces of lime, the animal experiences the same fate as the 

 iroung pigeon. 



j If we remove daily from the cow in its milk, a certain quantity 

 j)f the phosphate of lime, without repairing this loss in its nourish- 

 nent, this phosphate must be taken from its bones, which gradu- 

 illy lose their strength and solidity, and finally become incapable 

 )f supporting the weight of its body. 



If we add to the nourishment of the pigeon, grains of barley or 



• Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie. 



