WINTER MANAGEMENT. 221 



supported. The temperature of the body is considerably 

 warmer than the surrounding atmosphere, and varies but lit- 

 tle throughout the whole year. The cause of this high tem- 

 perature has already been explained. 



According to the theory of Liebeg, in carnivorous animals 

 the carbon required for the purposes of respiration and 

 warmth, is supplied by the waste of the tissues of the body, 

 which waste is materially greater than in herbivorous ani- 

 mals ; but in the latter the greater proportion is supplied by 

 the food itself. In the carnivora the whole of the food is 

 converted into flesh ; but in the herbivorous species a part 

 only is thus assimilated, other portions being required for 

 animal heat, and the formation of fat. But this will be bet- 

 ter understood by the following analysis of these several sub- 

 stances. Flesh and blood consist of the following elements, 

 subject to some variations, and to the water being removed. 

 To avoid decimals, we will suppose the substance to consist 

 of 10,000 parts. 



Flesh. Blood. 



- - 5195 



- - 717 



- - 1507 



- - 2139 



- - 442 



10,000 10,000 



By comparing the above, it will be perceived that the 

 relative proportions of constituents is very nearly the same, 

 especially those of carbon and nitrogen. These, then, are 

 properly the proportions in which these elements unite in 

 the tissues of the body, and hence nitrogen being a distin- 

 guished element of flesh and blood, no food destitute of ni- 

 trogen can nourish the body. 



By the following analysis of mutton fat, it will be seen 

 that the principal difference between flesh and fat consists 

 in the absence wholly of nitrogen. 



Carbon - - - 7,900 

 Hydrogen - - 1,170 

 Oxygen - - - 930 



10,000 

 Thus it is that such articles of food as sugar, starch, gum, 

 19* 



