CHEMISTRY OF CKOP. 



309 



been grown. The following is the mean of several analyses 

 by Johnston, Kane, and Way: 



The evidence which these analyses give us is of less 

 direct value to us in an agricultural, than indirectly in 

 an industrial point of view. They show us, it is true, 

 that the seed possesses a high nutritive value, but that it 

 also contains a large proportion of oil, which, although 

 an important part of its composition, is far more valu- 

 able for other purposes than for consumption as an article 

 of food. Both theory and practice lead us to assign 

 a certain value to oily compounds, when given to ani- 

 mals in small quantities. The flax-seed, or linseed, as 

 it is more commonly called, however, contains them 

 in larger proportions than animals can generally assimi- 

 late, and consequently a portion passes through the animal 

 in an undigested state, and is at any rate useless as food, 

 even if it does not, by its presence in excess in the stomach, 

 so derange the digestive functions as to act as a direct 

 purgative, and thus reduce the condition of the animal. 

 If linseed be given therefore in its normal state, it ought 

 always to be administered in comparatively small quanti- 

 ties, and mixed with some other alimentary substance de- 

 ficient in oily compounds, so as to restore the balance 

 between the two great principles of nutrition the flesh- 



1 and 3 By Kane and Johnston. 2 Way. 



