NITROGENOUS FOOD 51 



In the foregoing table, the analysis of oats is that of 

 good English corn, which, I may say, does not contain 

 more than half the proportion of woody fibre found in the 

 Indian variety. 



Owing to the indigestibility of bran, its nutritive value 

 is not in accordance with its chemical composition. This 

 want of agreement is also apparent in other foods, notably 

 in wheat and potatoes. The portions of bran which cannot 

 be digested serve a useful purpose in giving bulk to the 

 food, and in stimulating the digestive canal by the slight 

 mechanical irritation which its presence causes. 



The nitrogenous matters contain from 15*4 to 16*5 per 

 cent, of nitrogen. (ParJces.) 



Nitrogenous Food. — The natural waste of nitro- 

 genous tissue is accelerated by exertion, though to a far 

 smaller extent than is that of fat. From the analysis of 

 the urine of men, taken while they were undergoing 

 violent exertion, it was observed that there was but a 

 small increase in the waste of nitrogenous products, 

 which, as before remarked, are excreted by the kidneys. 

 Experience, however, demonstrates the necessity, in such 

 cases, of an adequate supply of nitrogen, as may be seen 

 by the good results obtained from the addition to oats of 

 beans — in England — or of gram, or hulthee — in India — 

 especially, when, from old age, or illness, the horse's 

 powers of assimilation were diminished. Such a diet, 

 however, should be carefully regulated, for an over-supply 

 is apt to upset the animal's digestion, and to poison his 

 blood by causing it to become filled with an excess of dele- 

 terious nitrogenous products, which the excretory organs 

 will be unable to eliminate with sufficient rapidity. We 



