SCIENCE AND ART OF FEEDING. 129 



The composition of the fleece, per cent of its pure dry 

 wool, is: 



Carbon 49.25 



Hydrogen 7 57 



Nitrogen 15.86 



Oxygen 23.66 



Sulphur 3.66 



Total 100.00 



The yolk, or suint, consists of: 



Potash, as carbonate 86.78 per cent. 



Potash, as chloride 6.18 " 



Potash, as sulphate 2.83 " 



Other substances 4.21 " 



Total 100.00 



Besides the yolk, which is soluble in water, there is 

 seven to ten per cent of grease or oil. 



It will be evident that as the sheep is kept for its wool 

 as well as for its flesh, the fleece is to be considered as a 

 part of the animal to be provided for in the feeding. But wool 

 is made up of almost precisely the same elements as skin, 

 hair, or horn, showing that all these parts of an animal 

 are really parts of the skin, and a mere change of the form 

 of it. And the only difference between the flesh of an ani- 

 mal and the skin, with its natural covering, and its out- 

 growths, is the somewhat larger proportion of nitrogen in 

 the latter than in the flesh. This is shown by these 

 figures: 



CARBON. HYDROGEN. NITROGEN. X 7^* I> 



SUI>FHUK. 



Flesh 5183 7.57 15.01 25.60 



Skin 50.99 7.07 18.72 23.22 



Wool 50.65 7.03 17.71 24.61 



Hair 51.53 6.69 17.94 23.84 



Horn 51.99 672 1T.23 24.01 



A very cursory examination and study of these figures 

 will go to show the almost perfect similarity between all 

 these parts of an animal, and how nature may vary the 

 character of her products in form, but yet preserve the sim- 

 ilarity of the materials of which they are made up. 



Perceiving of what raw materials a sheep is. made 

 up we must think of what materials the food for the pro- 

 duction of these parts of the sheep, must consist. But in 

 passing, let us consider for a moment one fact. We see that 

 the horn of a Merino sheep, or a Dorset, has some pounds of 

 precisely the same materials as so much wool contains. Then, 



