60 



Feeds and Feeding. 



only was a record kept of all the feed consumed and water drank, 

 but of everything that passed from the animal, including the so- 

 called solid excrement, urine, carbonic acid gas, and water, and in 

 the case of Armsby's experiments all the heat given off by the 

 body. While the work of Kellner and Armsby has really only be- 

 gun, they have already brought out facts of great interest and im- 

 portance. The following table sets forth some of their findings 

 with reference to what becomes of the pure nutrients and three 

 common feeding stuffs when fed to the ox. 



This table sets forth some of the highest and most instructive 

 attainments of the scientists working on animal nutrition. It 

 shows, first of all, that when 100 lbs. of pure peanut oil, a true 

 fat, is burned it will yield 399.2 therms. When fed, none of this 

 oil passed into the solid excrement or feces as waste, all being ab- 

 sorbed out of the small intestine and going into the body proper. 

 This oil contained no nitrogen, and so no nitrogenous waste from 

 it appeared in the urine, nor did any of it form methane gas in the 

 intestines. To digest and assimilate this 100 lbs. of oil required 

 174.4 therms of energy, leaving 224.8 therms which might be 

 stc)red in the body, either temporarily in the lymph bathing the 

 tissue cells, or more permanently as body fat. 



When 100 lbs. or 263.1 therms of wheat gluten, which is prin- 

 cipally protein, was fed, no part passed away in the solid droppings, 

 but the very large amount of 49.2 therms was carried away by the 

 urine, this loss coming from the breaking down of this protein 

 nutrient within the body, or from the breaking down of body tissue 



