FOODS. 87 



On comparing these figures it is evident that a horse 

 digests meadow grass and hay less perfectly than a sheep, 

 and the difference between them is apparently as great 

 when the food is young grass as when ordinary hay is 

 employed. There is little difference in the proportion of 

 albuminoids assimilated by the two animals, but the 

 divergence becomes very considerable when we come to 

 the carbo-hydrates, fibre, and fat. Of the carbo-hydrates 

 the horse digests 7 — 10 per cent., of the fibre 22 per cent., 

 and of the fat and waxy matter 25 — 52 per cent, less than 

 the sheep. On the whole, the horse digests about 12 per 

 cent, less of the total organic matter of grass hay than 

 the sheep. With lucerne hay of good quality the digestion 

 by the horse is far better, and (save as regards the fat) 

 nearly equals that of the sheep. 



The small digestive power of the horse for vegetable 

 fibre is plainly connected with the fact that it is not like 

 the sheep a ruminant animal, and is thus unprovided 

 with the same means of attacking an insoluble food. In 

 a trial with wheat-straw chaff the horse digested 22'5., 

 and the sheep 47'6 per cent, of the total organic 

 matter. 



With corn the digestion of the horse is apparently quite 

 equal to that of the sheep. The beans and maize were 

 soaked in water before they were given to the horse. 

 Stress must not be laid on the digestion coefficients found 

 for ingredients of the food present in small quantity, as, 

 for instance, the fat and fibre of beans, and the fibre of 

 maize. 



3. Experiments with Pigs. — These have not been so 

 numerous as those with ruminant animals. The following 



