Prof. Norton on the Analysis of the Oat. 333 
The following table gives the nitrogen in the husk and grain 
separately, and afterwards in the whole oat of the same sample. 
The results calculated dry :— 
Taste XXXIX. 
| | Husk. Grain. — Whole Oats. 
OE vintromony jay: f5i a2 21 ge | 0:30 | 2:82 218 
Of protein compounds, . . b68.054.¢10-77 13-72 
A proximate analysis of Boussingault’s gives 13-7, as the amount 
of protein compounds in the whole oat, exactly coinciding with 
the above determination. We see, then, that even including the 
husk, the oat is superior to almost any other corn, in those ingre- 
dients which go directly to the production of muscle in the body. 
The strong muscular forms of the Scottish ploughmen have long 
been living witnesses to the good properties of their favorite and 
almost only food; and now that it has been shown what those 
properties really are, I feel sure that Dr. Johnson’s definition of 
oats— Food for men in Scotland, and for horses in England”— 
will be remembered only for its appropriate answer—“ And where 
will you find such men and such horses ?” ; 
In conclusion, I may be permitted to say, that the extent of 
this investigation, and the many points which I have been com- 
pelled to leave undetermined, or doubtful, after eighteen months 
of constant labor, must convince those who entertain ideas 
of the time and patience necessary for chemical researches of this 
kind, that they have erred in supposing the chemist able to do in 
a few days or weeks, what can only be effected by the labor and 
study of many successive years. ll ; 
0 presenting my results to the Society, it is with a conscious- 
hess of their imperfections, and a feeling that it would have been 
most desirable to extend them much further in every direction. 
At the same time, I think that much new ground has been 
gone over, and that in many respects the bounds of our know- 
st with regard to the oat plant, have been considerably en- 
arge 
_ Thave endeavored to condense rather than extend my conclu- 
Sions and descriptions, which might have reached a very great 
length indeed, from the mass of tables and facts now presented, 
Laboratory of the Agricultural Chemistry Association, October, 1845. 
