130 THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



titles. The belief prevails more or less widely that an 

 abundant consumption of salt is beneficial. If this is 

 true, the advantage arises for other reasons than an 

 increased digestibility. The verdict from earlier experi- 

 ments by Grouven, Hofmeister, and Weiske that the 

 addition of salt to the ration does not increase the digesti- 

 bility was confirmed through later tests by Wolff. In- 

 deed, if we give to the data collected a literal and per- 

 fectly justifiable interpretation, salt diminished rather 

 than raised the proportion of digestible nutrients. 



191. Influence of frequency of feeding and watering 

 animals. — ^Experiments relative to this point are not 

 numerous. One by Weiske and others, relative to fre- 

 quency of feeding, and another by Gabriel and Weiske, 

 in which the effects of the time of watering and of the 

 amount of water were tested, gave no indication that the 

 completeness of digestion is materially affected by varia- 

 tions in these details of practice. According to Smith, 

 horses should be watered before being fed. He argues 

 that water does not stop in the stomach but passes 

 directly through it and freshly ingested food would be 

 washed into the intestine before any stomach digestion 

 occurs, an opinion which tallies with the popular view. 

 On the other hand, Tangl asserts, on the basis of extended 

 investigations, that horses may be watered either before 

 or after eating without depressing digestion, except that 

 a horse long deprived of water should be watered before 

 eating. The thing chiefly important is that the plan of 

 feeding and watering should not be varied. It seems 

 probable that the nutritive importance of these minor 

 points in managing animals has been much overesti- 

 mated by some, especially as affecting the utilization of 

 the food. 



