10 BULLETIN 613, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



per cent, for the digestibility of the total fat of the diet becomes 93.7 

 per cent for the digestibility of the hard-palate fat. 



The subjects all reported that they were in normal physical condi- 

 tion during the period of these experiments, and accordingly it ap- 

 pears that hard-palate fat of good quality may be eaten as a con- 

 stituent of a simple mixed diet at least in amounts not exceeding 90 

 grams daily without physiological disturbances. 



HORSE FAT. 



At present horse flesh is sold for human food in this country in 

 only a few of the larger cities. That the supply of animals exceeds 

 the demand 1 is shown by letters received by commission firms in 

 Chicago from Montana ranchmen offering in carload lots animals 

 that were " overaged," " wire cut," " undersized/' and " inbred," but 

 in " good flesh and health." Horse flesh is quite generally used for 

 human food in some European countries, for it is reported 2 that 

 as long ago as 1892 in Paris and Vienna over 20,000 horses were 

 slaughtered for human food. " Similar statistics are furnished also 

 from Berlin and other public abattoirs in Prussia, and the supply 

 of horse flesh as a meat food for the public has become a regular and 

 well-organized business." In 1910, 29,000,000 pounds of horse meat 3 

 was produced for consumption in Paris and its environs. In Ger- 

 many, in 1909, 152,214 horses were slaughtered, which provided 

 79.000,000 pounds of meat ; approximately 1^ pounds per capita. 



It is apparent from these statements that horse fat as a part of the 

 meat enters into the European dietary. It is evidently also known as 

 a separated fat, for Lewkowitsch 4 reports that " it is used by the 

 poorer classes on the Continent as an edible fat in the place of lard, 

 and is no doubt used as an adulterant of more expensive fats." There 

 is a tradition in some foreign countries that if has a special value 

 as shortening in pastry making. 



Though no definite information regarding its use for such purposes 

 in the United States has been found, it seemed not without interest 

 to include a study of horse fat, and in order that the results obtained 

 might be directly comparable with those obtained for beef, mutton, 

 and pork (kidney fats), reported in an earlier paper, 5 an attempt was 

 made to secure a supply of horse-kidney fat. However, after several 

 horses had been slaughtered without securing from any sufficient 

 kidney fat for the purpose of this study, it was decided to study a 



iNat. Provisioner, 58 (1918), No. 16, p. 17. 

 2 Lancet [London], 1 (1918), No. 5, p. 189. 



8 Jour. Amer. Vet. Med. Assoc, n. ser., 4 (1917), No. 5, p. 681. 



4 Chemical Technology and Analysis of Oils, Pats, and Waxes, II. J. Lewkowitsch, 

 London: Macmillan and Co. (1909), j. 547. 

 5 U. S. Dept. Agr„ Bui. 310 (1915). 



