Essential Characters of Food. 31 



caserne or gluten, albumen, and fibrine in another 

 form, supplied in the milk of the mother to young 

 animals, and in peas, beans, &c., to older ones ; 

 from which also hoof, horn, hair, wool, skin, flesh, 

 and feathers, &c. &c., are formed, developed, and 

 repaired. 



Lastly, if blood be coagulated, the mass which 

 separates proves itself an identical compound to 

 flesh itself; fibrine. 



The whole then are the various forms in which 

 the elements are conveyed to the blood, as found 

 in the food upon which the animal subsists. By 

 the action of vital processes within the system, 

 each assumes those conditions which in themselves 

 are vital. Their supply to the system must be 

 constant in order to keep pace with the waste. 

 Hence they are found abundantly in the food 

 upon which man and animals live. Horses and 

 cattle meet with them in the grass and corn 

 which they daily consume, and man and carnivora 

 obtain it directly by using the flesh and blood 

 (fibrine) of animals as food. 



The following table shows how these substances 

 resemble each other in chemical composition : 



Carbon . 

 Hydrogen 

 Nitrogen 

 Oxygen . 



Gluten Caseine 



from flour, from peas. 

 Boussingault. Scherer. 



54-2 



7'5 



13-9 



24-4 



54-138 



7-156 



15-672 



23-034 



Albumen 

 from eggs. 



Jones. 



55-000 

 7-073 



15-920 



22-007 



Ox-blood. 



Playfair. 



54-35 



7-50 



15-76 



22-39 



Ox-flesh. 



Playfair. 



54-12 



7-89 



15-67 



22-32 



lOO'O 100-000 100-000 100-000 100-000 



