CHEMISTRY OF CEOP. 241 



We may simplify his form of analysis by separating and 

 tabulating the several compounds, under the two heads of 

 flesh-formers and heat-givers, as we have hitherto done : 

 thus 



Compounds containing nitrogen legumine, 23'30 



Compounds not containing nitrogen starch, gum, &c., 48 '50 



,, woody fibre, lO'OO 



Water, 14-80 



Ash mineral matter, 3'40 



100-00 



" Legumine " is the peculiar nitrogen compound met 

 with in beans and peas, equivalent to the "gluten" of the 

 cereals the feeding properties of both descriptions of seed 

 being mainly determined by the proportions of the flesh- 

 forming compounds they respectively contain. Our cereals, 

 as we have seen, contain only from 12 to 15 per cent., 

 while the foregoing analysis shows us that in beans they 

 exist to nearly double that proportion. This comparison 

 at once explains why beans possess such superior powers 

 as food materials, either in feeding animals for the market, 

 or in replacing the tissues and sustaining the wear and 

 tear of animal life generally. Numerous experiments in 

 feeding cattle have been recorded, 1 where beans have, in 

 comparison with other substances, quite sustained the 

 character of flesh-formers which chemistry assigns to them. 

 For fattening purposes, some other food rich in the non- 

 nitrogenous compounds linseed, for instance should be 

 combined with the beans, for the reasons given at pages 

 2 and 3. For working animals of all sorts, beans may be 

 used very advantageously in their diet : the harder the 

 work, the larger the proportion of beans should be. In 



1 By Bruce, of East Lothian, and Johnston, in High. Soc. Trans.; by Mar- 

 shall, in the Roy. Agri. Soc. Jour.; and by Drs. E. and T. Thomson, of Glas- 

 gow, in the Government Eeport already alluded to. 



