412 INORGANIC ELE3IENTS OF FOOD. 



if the hay consumed contained 328 half-drachms of ash or mineral 

 matter, the excrements and urine 252 half-drachms of the same 

 matters ; the difference between the two sums, 76 half-drachms,* 

 is the quantity of mineral matter fixed in the course of two days, of 

 which 200.6 grains were phosphoric acid, and 494.0 grains were 

 lime. This quantity of lime, however, is more than four times as 

 much as is necessary to constitute a subphosphate of lime such as 

 exists in the bones. It is true, indeed, that there is always a quan- 

 tity of carbonate of lime associated with the subphosphate in bones ; 

 10 of carbonate for 38 of phosphate, according to Fourcroy and 

 Vauquelin, in those of the ox. Still the quantity of lime assimilated 

 was vastly more than it ought to have been, had it only gone to assist 

 in the formation of bone. If there was no error in the observations, 

 it is probable that the base in question enters into the constitution of 

 the salts with organic acids which are encountered in all parts of 

 the animal body. 



By a series of weighings, I ascertained that my calf, fed simply 

 upon hay, increased every day by a quantity equal to 9725.9 grains 

 troy, in which were included 858.35 grains of mineral substances, 

 the calcareous phosphate and carbonate of the bones in this quan- 

 tity being represented by 262.4 grains, or nearly 3 per cent, of the 

 entire weight acquired in the course of twenty-four hours. ' 



In the experiment with the milch-cow in calf, I limited my inqui- 

 ries to the phosphoric acid and the lime taken in and given out. 

 The animal, four years old, was '2^ months gone with calf, and 

 weighed 1452.6 lbs. She had the same allowance during the expe 

 riment as she had had for several days before, and which for twenty 

 four hours consisted of — 



Ha3- 16.5 lbs. 



Cut wheat-straw. ••• 9.9 

 Beet 59.4 



The experiment was continued for four days, during which tho 

 excrements, the urine, and the milk, were carefully collected and 

 weighed, and the ashes, both of the food consumed and of the pro- 

 ducts rendered, were determined by chemical analysis. Suffice it to 

 say, that, representing the quantity of mineral matters assumed into 

 the body in the course of the experiment by 849.9 half-drachms, the 

 quantity voided amounted to no more than 556 half-drachms. In the 

 quantity assumed, there were 100.2 half-drachmsof phosphoric acid, 

 and 203.8 half-drachms of lime ; in the quantity voided, there were 

 but 68.2 half-drachms of phosphoric acid, and 116.8 half-drachms 

 of lime : this is at the rate of about 8 half-drachms of phosphoric 

 acid, and 22 half-drachms of lime assimilated in the course of twenty- 

 four hours. Here, as in the case of the calf, the quantity of lime 

 assimilated is greatly superior to what it ought to be, in order, by 

 combining with the phosphoric acid, to constitute the phosphate of 

 lime of the bones. 



From these inquiries into the nutrition of a calf and of a cow in 



• The szact quantity is 2392.8.grain8 troy.— Ema. E». 



