MEATS, BREAD ETC. 187 



absorbed from the shell during the process of incubation. Among the inor- 

 ganic constituents of eggs, there is always a small quantity of iron. The 

 following is the composition of the entire contents of the egg, quoted from 

 Pavy : 



Nitrogenized matters 14-0 



Fatty matters 10-5 



Inorganic matters 1'5 



Water 74-0 



1000 



A number of different nitrogenized and fatty matters, a small quantity of 

 saccharine matter, as well as a great variety of inorganic salts, exist in eggs. 



The physiological effects of a diet restricted to a single constituent of food 

 or to a few articles have been closely studied both in the human subject and 

 in the inferior animals. Animals subjected to a diet composed exclusively 

 of non-nitrogenized matters die in a short time with all the symptoms of 

 inanition. The same result follows when dogs are confined to white bread 

 and water ; but these animals live very well on the military brown bread, as 

 this contains a greater variety of alimentary matters (Magendie). Facts of 

 this nature were multiplied by the " gelatine commission," and the experi- 

 ments were extended to nitrogenized substances and articles containing a 

 considerable variety of alimentary matters. In these experiments, it was 

 shown that dogs could not live on a diet of pure myosine, the appetite en- 

 tirely failing at the forty-third to the fifty-fifth day. They were nourished 

 perfectly well by gluten, which is composed of a number of different ali- 

 mentary substances. Among the conclusions arrived at by this commission, 

 which bear particularly on the questions under consideration, were the fol- 

 lowing : 



" Gelatine, albumen, fibrin, taken separately, do not nourish animals ex- 

 cept for a very limited period and in a very incomplete manner. In general, 

 these substances soon excite an insurmountable disgust, to the point that ani- 

 mals prefer to die of hunger rather than touch them. 



" The same substances artificially combined and rendered agreeably sapid 

 by seasoning are accepted more readily and longer than if they were isolated, 

 but ultimately they have no better influence on nutrition, for animals that 

 take them, even in considerable quantity, finally die with all the signs of 

 complete inanition. 



" Muscular flesh, in which gelatine, albumen and fibrin are united accord- 

 ing to the laws of organic nature, and when they are associated with other 

 matters, such as fat, salts etc., suffices, even in very small quantity, for com- 

 plete and prolonged nutrition." 



In Burdach's treatise on physiology, is an account of some interesting 

 experiments by Ernest Burdach on rabbits, showing the influence of a re- 

 stricted diet upon nutrition. Three young rabbits from the same litter were 

 experimented upon. One was fed with potato alone and died on the thir- 



