358 FEEDING WITH SUGAR BEETS, SUGAR, ETC. 



deposited was proportional to this increase. Other combinations showed that 

 the fat deposited from protein was more tenacious than the fat having a fat- 

 like origin. Under certain conditions of disease, large quantities of fat are 

 deposited in the liver and other organs of the body, and it forms at the expense 

 of the protein. It is said that the greatest amount of fat that can thus be 

 formed is 51 per cent. At the New York experiment station, it has been 

 demonstrated that the fat in the food explained the fat in the cow's milk 

 especially during the last half of the feeding period. It is important to note 

 that the fat percentage is very variable in some cases. In these experi- 

 ments it was pointed out that the fat in question was the so-called crude fat or 

 ether extract which contains other substances such as chlorophyl in the solu- 

 tion. As fat can be formed from carbohydrates, as has been demonstrated for 

 most animals, it is reasonable to suppose that the cow is not an exception. 

 The transformation was thought impossible during the early stages of fattening, 

 but at present it is considered a certainty and it has been well proved by the 

 Lawes and Gilbert experiments that the fatty acids are absorbed and subse- 

 quently deposited as fat. 



The Pettenkofer and Voit experiments showed that 100 parts of fat were 

 about equal on an average to 175 parts of carbohydrates. The amount of fat 

 in the body is very variable; while in the case of a fat calf it may be nearly 15 

 Ibs. per 100 Ibs. live weight, it is 30 Ibs. for a fattened ox, and there are two 

 pounds of fat constituents for one pound of lean meat. 



Fat exists in the blood in minute quantities, say not more than 0.3 percent. 

 In the bones and nerves it is found in greater amounts. It is especially found 

 under the skin. Most of the fat cells of a living animal contain transparent 

 fat. 



From whatever part of the body the fat is taken, it is almost identical in 

 composition and furthermore, if existing in plants or in the body of an animal, 

 its composition is always about the same, carbon 76 per cent., hydrogen 12, 

 oxygen 11.5. 



Experiments relative to the digestibility of fat cannot be considered as en- 

 tirely satisfactory in their results; they have, however, considerable scientih'c 

 value for the estimation of the feeding value of a fodder. The poorer the 

 fodder in fat, the greater will be the error committed. While such modes of 

 estimation are not mathematical, they allow one feeding stuff" to be compared 

 with another. 



The production of fat may be calculated in advance based upon the gain br 

 loss of carbon. To carry on a series of experiments of this kind demands very 

 delicate appliances, in which one may measure very accurately the air thrown 

 off by the lungs and perspiration, etc., besides that found in the urea, etc. On 

 this subject, Armsby says: "If the comparison of the nitrogen in fodder and 

 excrements show's that the body has neither gained nor lost albuminoids, then 

 the carbon gained or lost was all in the form of fat. Every 100 parts of fat 

 contain 76 parts of carbon, therefore every 76 parts of carbon shown by the 

 experiment to have been gained or lost represent 100 parts of fat, or one part 

 of carbon corresponds to 1.3 parts of fat." 



