\T1LATION. 



is not meant a mere similarity, but an absolute 

 identity; so much so, that if you were to place 

 in a chemist'* hand some gluten obtained from 

 wheat flour, some dry albumen procured from 



.te of an egg, a fragment of the flesh of 

 n ox or of a man, or some of their dried blood, 

 and request him to examine their difference, he 

 would tell you, strange as it may appear, that 

 tbT are precisely the same, and that with all 

 the refinements of his science he was unable to 



any essential difference between them, 

 i it'miirh difference, indeed, in external 



pprarance and in structure, but in their ultimate 

 composition there is none." To render this 

 more obvious, I subjoin the composition of these 

 various substances, as obtained by different che- 



vrho executed their analyses without 

 any knowledge of the results obtained by the 



OMM Cwia A 



( | > ,.r. '-,. I. v,r. fr- 



Carho* ...... 



n.... 7.5 



.en.... 13.0 



Oxygen ...... M.4 



14.131 



7.156 



OS.OM 



fn.m Eo*. Ox Blood. Ox Flesh. 



Join* Mavf:iir. Flayfair. 



65.000 54.35 54.12 



7.073 7.50 789 



15.920 15.76 15.67 



22.007 22.39 22.32 



100.0 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 



These analyses do not differ from each other 

 more than the analyses of the same substance 

 usually do. Thus we are led to the startling 

 conclusion, that plants contain within them the 

 flesh of animals ready formed, and that the only 

 duty of animals subsisting upon them is to give 

 this flesh a place and form in their organism. 

 m animal subsists upon flesh, we find no 

 difficulty in explaining its nutrition; for the 

 flesh being of the same composition as its own 

 body, the animal, in a chemical point of view, 

 may be said to be eating itself; nor, with a 

 knowledge of this identity of vegetable albumen 

 with flesh, is there any difficulty in comprehend- 

 ing the nutrition of vegetable feeders. 



Plant*, then, in reality, form \\ieflesh of ani- 

 mal*; and the latter merely appropriate it a 

 place in their organism. 



It follows, then, as a conclusion, that the ana- 



lysis of any vegetable substance pretty accu- 



rately indicates its nutritious powers. "It has 



-hown by many laborious chemical re- 



searches," to use the words of Dr. Playfair, 



that there are two kinds of food. The first, 



ins nitrogen, is exactly of the same 



T) position as the principal tissues of the human 



md is the only substance which can sup- 



ply the waste of th*se tissues. The second kind 



of food is that destitute of nitrogen, such as 



itarch,gum,and sugar, all of which are destined 



for the support of respiration and consequent 



heat of the animal. The latter kind of food, 



when in excess, is converted into fet, but never 



into muscle. The increase of flesh in an animal 



n changes of the matter of the food, 



' any alteration in its composition. The 



albumen or nitrogenous constituent of the food 



converted into blood, without decompo- 



and the blood is afterwards converted 



! n order to show that the transforma- 



ly effected without change, we have 



to the following results of the ana- 



vegetable albumen, of ox blood, and of 



flesh : 



54.12 



18 JO 



22.32 



Cnrbon 

 Hyclr.^en ..... 



Nitrogen ...... 



>xygr. 



.-,l 31 



22.39 



VENTILATION. 



"As muscle then is foimed only by the albu- 

 men or gluten of the food, which albumen is in 

 reality flesh itself, we can ascertain the compa- 

 rative value of food, as far as the production of 

 muscle is concerned, by estimating the exact 

 quantity of the nitrogenous constituent of the 

 food. The following table," continues Dr. Play- 

 fair, " contains the approximative, though not 

 perfectly accurate, information relative to the 

 value of food for the support of respiration and 

 production of fat : 



lOOIbi. 



Flesh . 

 Blood . 

 Beans . 

 Peas . . 



Lentils 

 Potatoes 



Unazotized 

 Albumen. Matter. 

 It.s. II*. 



lib 



^ 



9 

 10 



84 



That/atf exists ready formed in various vege- 

 table substances, has been proved by careful 

 chemical examination. Thus, according to Lie- 

 big, hay contains 1-56 per cent., and maize 4-07 

 per cent. of. fat. Braconnot found 1-20 per cent, 

 in peas, while Fresenius got 2-1 per cent.; and 

 in lentils 1-3 per cent. Vogel obtained 2-00 per 

 cent, of fat in oats; Liebig 0-3 per cent, in dry 

 potatoes; and Braconnot 0-13 per cent, in rice, 

 although, in another variety, Vogel states that 

 he detected 1-05 per cent. The substance here 

 called fat is in reality a waxy or resinous body, 

 and not tallow, except in a few instances. 



[Foor>.] An animal requires, to sustain its 

 body in good condition, supply heat, and make 

 up for daily waste, about l-60th part of its own 

 weight. If the object be to increase the size, en- 

 able it to work, or give milk, a still larger pro- 

 portion of food must be given. Thus, to feed for 

 milk twice the quantity of food named will be 

 required. If muscle for labour be needed, food 

 containing gluten must be given, and as peas 

 and beans contain gluten in the largest quantity, 

 they constitute exceedingly valuable food for 

 working horses. Wheat contains 35 to 40 per 

 cent, of the gluten out of which muscle is formed. 

 Cabbage is rich in gluten, and the flower of the 

 cauliflower contains more gluten than any other 

 garden vegetable we raise for food. When fat is 

 required, or a good coat* give substances contain- 

 ing oil, such as Indian corn, oats, linseed-cake, 

 as well as rape-cake and poppy-seed cake. Farm- 

 ers generally prefer those substances which unite 

 the muscle and fat-giving qualities. The milk- 

 man desirous of quantity and little regarding 

 quality, gives his cattle grains from the brew- 

 ery and various kinds of watery slops. But 

 where the dairyman wants butter or cheese, 

 then quality is to be considered. In order to 

 make butter, the milk must be rich, and he has 

 it in his power to add largely to the ordinary 

 produce of the dairy, by the selection of food rich 

 in oil. In England oil-cake is given, but not 

 much at a time, as it gives an undesirable taste 

 to the butter. A skilful dairyman can, however, 

 often manage, by giving a large quantity of oil- 

 cake, to get a far better quality of milk than by 

 giving any other kind of food. If the object be 

 to make cheese, food is given rich in the mate- 

 rial to produce curd which is precisely that 

 furnishing the flesh or muscle, already referred 

 to. To feed with cabbage would produce a poor 

 cheese, which contains little fat, but a large pro- 

 portion of the curd or muscle-forming material. 

 Where milk to make butter or rich cheese is 



