July i, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



So it is with cattle fed with slops from distilleries : though, like 

 Sir Astley Cooper's drayman, they look powerful and fiesh-colored 

 and healthy, and increase in size and weight, they are not truly 

 healthy, and the increase in weight is not due to additional muscle 

 or genuine fat. What appears to be fat is a soft, flabby degenera- 

 tion of tissue, and, if they are exposed to hardship or attacked by 

 disease, will at once succumb. 



In conversation with Mr. Outerbridge Horsey of Frederick 

 County, a well-known farmer and distiller, I gleaned some practical 

 hints in regard to the use of swill in feeding cows. Mr. H. does 

 not believe that it is injurious if given in proper quantities and in 

 combination with grasses or other food. He has abandoned feed- 

 ing his own cows with it, however, for the reason that it imparts a 

 peculiar odor to the milk, and notably to the butter. This is no 

 doubt the case, for there is a particular pungency in this character 

 of food. Therefore milk from cows fed on swill cannot be made 

 into condensed milk, for such milk when condensed has a rank 

 smell and a bitter taste. The swill, if given in large quantities and 

 for a length of time, exercises a very pernicious influence on some 

 of the organs of the body. The teeth fall out, and it is said that 

 the tails atrophy and loosen. If this be the case, I cannot explain 

 the exact cause. It is a necrosis, and must be due to some poison- 

 ous element in the food. Nearly fifty per cent of the inorganic 

 elements in swill is composed of phosphoric acid ; but, as the inor- 

 ganic elements are scarcely five per cent of the whole, I can hardly 

 ascribe the degeneration which takes place to the excess of phos- 

 phoric acid. According to Fownes, the inorganic elements of milk 

 are 4.91 parts in the i.ooo, as follows: — ■ 

 2.31 Phos. calcium. 



.42 Phos. magnesium. 



.07 Phos. iron. 

 1.44 Chlor. potassium. 



.24 Chlor. sodium. 



.42 Sodium and caseine. 



4.91 



This gives a little more than one part in a thousand of phosphoric 

 acid, — in normal milk a very small quantity indeed. It may be 

 possible that the necrosis is due to the heat of the swill, for the teeth 

 of pigs become decayed from this cause. Cows do not like the hot 

 food at first, but after a time become exceedingly fond of it, — so 

 fond that they do not care to partake of cold food. Mr. Peter 

 G. Sauerwein relates to me a very singular circumstance in regard 

 to this point. Whilst acting as revenue collector, the machinery of 

 one of the distilleries in his district which supplied slop to the milk- 

 men became deranged for several weeks. During this time the 

 milkmen came daily to the distillery and filled their hogsheads with 

 the boiling water, paying the same price for it that they usually 

 paid for the same quantity of swill. They gave as a reason for this 

 that their cattle were so used to hot food that they cared for noth- 

 ing else. 



Swill, if used judiciously, that is, in combination with good grasses 

 or cereals, is not injurious or objectionable. It serves the purpose 

 of the glass of ale or porter to the nursing mother ; that is, it in- 

 creases the quantity of milk, but I do not believe it improves the 

 quality. There is another form of food given to cattle still more 

 deleterious than swill ; viz., the debris or refuse left after the extrac- 

 tion of glucose from corn. This is highly injurious, if not poison- 

 ous. Fortunately there is not much of this to be procured in 

 Baltimore, as we have but one glucose-factory in our midst ; but 

 it is given very freely to cattle in Buffalo and Chicago, where im- 

 mense quantities of glucose are manufactured. 



Inasmuch as the analyses of swill made by different chemists 

 show it to be rich in certain forms of food-elements, it may be 

 asked, why is it so injurious to cows ? This is a question more 

 easily asked than answered. The alcohol and fusel-oil which 

 ordinary swill contains are not sufficient to produce the bad results 

 which it is asserted follow its liberal use. Can it be that the excess 

 of nitrogenous and albuminoid substances in this form of food lead 

 to non-assimilation, or other functional disturbances, thus proving 

 its unfitness for the animal economy ? Experience is certainly more 

 important than mere chemistry, and therefore the judgment of those 

 feeding cows as well as those consuming the milk must determine 



the whole question. Popular prejudice, which in many cases is 

 founded on ignorance, or mere science independent of experience, 

 should not be allowed to determine a matter of this character. 

 Whilst I myself do not think swill proper food for cows, except, as 

 I have before stated, in small quantities and in judicious combina- 

 tion with grasses, and whilst I think that swill-milk is equally unfit 

 for children, I am willing to give those entertaining different views 

 a candid hearing. 



Analyses have been recently made, at the instance of those 

 largely interested in this matter, of the swill fed to cows, and also 

 of the milk resulting from its use. These analyses are by two well- 

 known chemists, — Professor Simon of this city, and Mr. Peter Collier 

 of the Department of Agriculture, Washington. Professor Simon 

 furnishes the results of the analyses of three samples of milk, — 

 the first drawn by himself at the stables of Messrs. M. Crichton & 

 Co., from different cows, on April 7, 1882; No. 2 sample bought 

 from Pikesville Dairy Company ; No. 3 sample bought from a store 

 in the south-eastern section of Baltimore. 



Specific Gravity. 

 3 Parts Milk contain 



Water 



Fat 



Caseine 



Milk-sugar 

 Ash 



86.47 

 3-77 

 4.44 

 4-56 

 0.76 



3 ■40 

 4.23 

 4-Sl 



3-83 

 4.16 

 0.63 



Mr. Simon says, " In looking over the results of my analyses, you 

 will see at once that the sample drawn by myself from your ' swill- 

 fed ' cows compares most favorably with sample No. 2, produced 

 by cows receiving no distillery refuse. Both these samples repre- 

 sent very good milk ; and especially No. i is, in the amount of 

 cream and total solids, far above the average milk. 



" No. 3 sample represents an adulterated article, from which no 

 doubt not only cream had been removed, but to which also some 

 water had been added. I selected this sample out of about two 

 dozen samples, brought from different dealers, as the worst milk 

 which has come under my notice." 



Professor Simon furnishes the result of an analysis of swill drawn 

 by himself from about 1,000 gallons at the Melrose distillery on 

 March 6, 1882. 



One hundred parts of sample contain of — 



A. Volatile products (expelled at 212° F.) 94.63 



B. Organic matter 4.83 



C. Inorganic matter (ashes) 0.54 



Analysis of Portion A. 

 Volatile Products. 



Water 



Alcohol 



Fusel-oil (chiefly amylic alcohol) 



Loss 



Analysis of Portion B. 

 Organic Matter. 



Starch isomers 26.68 



Cellulose 23.83 



Albuminoids 25.30 



Gum 6.73 



Sugar 5-44 



Fats 7-37 



Glycerine 1-20 



Organic acids 1.46 



Extractive and coloring matter 1.14 



Loss and not determined 0.35 



flesh-producing food, 

 i fat-producing food. 



