44 HORSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 



various grasses ; while corn contains them in a far smaller 

 proportion; hence the necessity of the former food. 

 The following analysis, taken from The Composition of 

 Foods, &c., compiled by Dr. Kensington, will give an 

 idea of the proportions in which they are found : 

 Ash of Grass. 



100-00 



The phosphates of lime and magnesia, the carbonate 

 of lime and silica are the chief agents that give solidity 

 to the bony skeleton. The phosphate and carbonate of 

 soda " would seem to have as their chief purpose the 

 maintenance of the alkalinity of the blood, on which 

 depends not merely the solubility of its albumen, but 

 the facility of its passage through the capillaries, and 

 the readiness with which its combustive materials are 

 oxidized, whilst they also increase the absorptive power 

 of the serum for gasses, and thus play an important part 

 in the respiratory process. The salts of potash appear 

 to be specially required for the nutrition of the muscles 

 a.nd nerves, since they are largely present in the fluids 

 and ashes of these tissues, but they probably exert the 



same general influence as those of soda The presence 



of the earthy salts, on the other hand, would seem to 

 have reference almost exclusively to the composition 

 of the tissues, into which some of them enter very 

 largely " (Carpenter). Iron is principally found in the 

 red corpuscles of the blood, in the muscles, and in the hair. 



