FAT, STARCH, AND SUGAR. 41 



" heated " state of the system of the consumption of 

 too much gram, or kulthee. 



An excess of nitrogenous food, such as gram, or 1M- 

 thee, seems to hasten the oxidation of fat, probably by 

 inducing a fevered state of the system, in which the 

 temperature of the body is raised above its normal degree. 

 Hence we find that an excess of such food retards the 

 process of getting an animal into a fat condition. 



Fat, Starch, and Sugar in Food. These constituents 

 are, by the process of digestion, utilized in the formation 

 of adipose tissue ; the first named being directly absorbed, 

 without undergoing any organic change. Its excess is 

 most apt, especially during idleness, to cause derangement 

 of the liver, from its accumulating to an injurious extent, 

 in the cells of that organ ; and also tends to produce 

 fatty infiltration and degeneration of various tissues, 

 rendering them unable to bear the strain of violent exer- 

 tion. Too large a supply of sugar also acts in a similar, 

 but in far more limited manner ; while an excess of starch 

 appears to exert little or no injurious effect ; for what is 

 not required, seems to be harmlessly expelled with the 

 dung. Thus we see that the bad results of an excess of 

 either fat, sugar, or starch are in a direct proportion to 

 the ease with which they are assimilated. When an 

 animal is in poor condition, the value of these foods is in 

 the same ratio. 



Nitrogenous matters are also capable of forming fat, 

 for in them we find the necessary carbon, hydrogen, and 

 oxygen. This process probably, takes place to a far 

 slighter degree among the herbivora, than among the 



