338 FEEDING WITH SUGAR BEETS, SUGAR, ETC. 



or under different aspects, such as hair, wool, horns, claws, etc. Their com- 

 position is about as follows: 51 per cent, carbon, 7 per cent, hydrogen, 16 to 

 17 per cent, nitrogen, 20 to 22 per cent, oxygen. Consequently, it is inter- 

 esting to note that the average composition of different parts of the body is 

 very like that of pure albumin. Several important experiments show that the 

 nitrogenous organic matters of the body, other than the albuminoids and horny 

 matter, have but little influence on the percentage of nitrogen of which the 

 body consists. 



(6) NON-NITROGENOUS ELEMENT". 



These include the carbohydrates and mineral constituents. 



Lactic acid is one of the non-nitrogenous organic substances which help to 

 make up the body; it is found in the blood and in the muscular tissues. 



It is one of the elements of sugar of milk found in the gastric juice, and also 

 in the small and large intestines. 



Sugar is also found in the blood, in a maximum quantity of 0.1 per cent., 

 in the vein leading from the liver in the direction of the heart; on the other 

 hand the liver contains a substance known as glycogen, which is very like 

 sugar, found also in very limited quantities in the muscles of the body; with 

 it is also another substance called inosite, possessing properties and a com- 

 position very like sugar. Many substances found in the bile and other 

 secretions of the body are also non-nitrogenous, but their percentage is so 

 small that it is not even necessary to mention them. 



Fat is to be found in variable quantities in blood (0.1 to 0.3 per cent. ), also 

 in milk, the nerve tissue, etc., in all solid or liquid parts of the body, in 

 special cells under the skin, between the muscles and in the muscular fibres. 

 It is either in solid state like tallow, or in a liquid condition not unlike oil. 

 Its appearance, color and taste vary very considerably with the animal from 

 which it is taken. 



The thin membrane forming walls of cells containing fat represents about 

 0.8 per cent, of total weight of tissue. All fats contain at least 75 per cent, 

 carbon, 11 per cent, hydrogen and 12 per cent, oxygen, and are consequently 

 excellent heat formers. When not consumed, they are deposited in their 

 special cells, where they remain and increase in quantity unless called upon to 

 supply an insufficiency in the fodder used ; animals dying from hunger 

 consume almost all the fat of their bodies. Fats take a most important part 

 in assisting the assimilation of protein substances and in the formation and 

 development of animal cells. An interesting fact is that fat found in plants is 

 almost identical with fat found in the body of an animal. Before being de- 

 posited, it undergoes certain transformations and may be in greater volume 

 than the fodder used originally contained. The quantity of fat deposited may 

 reach 40 per cent, of the total weight of cattle, or several times more than all 

 the dry nitrogenous substances representing the animal's weight at the time of 

 killing. An animal in perfect condition has rounded proportions due to fat, 

 which in no manner interferes with the general functions of the body; on the 

 other hand when submitted to a process of systematic fattening, the functions 



