374 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



of starvation. Not only must the supplies be 

 kept up, but they must be of the character of 

 the parts consumed, and in a form such that 

 the organism will assimilate them. The body 

 may be said to be made up of the blood, muscle, 

 fat, bones, skin, hair, horns, etc.; and each of 

 these has its own particular composition. Thus 

 the blood is made up of nearly eighty per 

 cent of water and a little more than twenty 

 per cent of solids, of which nearly one per cent 

 is ash (chloride of sodium and phosphates of 

 magnesium, soda and lime), and the remainder 

 is a richly nitrogenous matter very like the 

 white of eggs with a little fat and sugar. The 

 bones, on the other hand, have about two-thirds 

 of inorganic matter in their constituents, being 

 rich in phosphates of lime and magnesia, in 

 carbonate of lime, in potash and common salt 

 (chloride of sodium)! It is necessary for an 

 accurate theoretical determination of the prob- 

 lems of feeding that all the parts of the body 

 should be carefully analyzed and an accurate 

 determination reached as to the relative de- 

 mand made upon the feeder for food of the 

 various kinds. 



Now it is not necessary when this is deter- 

 mined to go to work and get all these elements 

 separately and form a mixture as a physician 

 might compound a prescription and administer 

 the food in such a way. On the contrary, even 



