The Laboratory J or A)iimal i\ntritio)i Studies at Durham 



MEASURING ANIMAL DIGESTION 



1 O THIS inexpensive laboratory at Durham have come within the 

 last few years scientists from fifteen foreign countries, as well as 

 many from the other states of the Union. They are attracted by the 

 special technique evolved here for measuring the digestibility of 

 feeds and the metabolism of different farm animals. 



In 1 91 8 Dr. F. G. Benedict, Director of the Carnegie Institution's 

 Nutrition Laboratory and internationally famous for research work 

 in human nutrition, selected the New Hampshire Station for the 

 cooperative development of a new and simplified type of animal nu- 

 trition laboratory. Here, as a result, have been conducted studies of 

 the comparative basal metabolism of beef cattle, horses, sheep, goats, 

 pigs, and dairy cows. By means of the ingenious respiration chamber 

 investigators have been able to follow, day by day, changes in weight 

 and general condition to measure loss of weight through lungs and 

 skin because of insensible perspiration; to determine physical and 

 chemical changes in excreta; to observe and record the effect upon 

 heart-rate, respiration-rate, and internal and external temperature; 

 to compute the total heat produced by the animals during 24-hour 

 periods; and to ascertain what energy yielding material was being 

 burned by the animals to supply this heat. In addition, accurate daily 

 records were obtained on all these points when modified by changes 

 in quantity and kind of food and by the position of the animals, as 

 when standing or lying down. ^ 



