442 Mr. J. B. Lawes and Dr. Gilbert on the Sources 



]arge proportion of fat, both in relation to the weight of animal 

 within a given time, and to the amount of food consumed. The 

 following Table (I.), which summarizes the results of a great 

 many direct experiments of our own*, will show that of the ox, 

 the sheep, and the pig — the most important of the animals fed 

 and slaughtered as human food — the last pre-eminently supplies 

 the required conditions. 



Table I. — Comparative fattening-qualities of different animals. 





Oxen. 



Sheep. 



Pigs. 



Relation of parts in 100 live-weight. 



Average of 



16 



249 



59 





116 



2-7 



75 

 3-6 



1-3 

 6-2 



Intestines and contents 



Heart, aorta, lungs, windpipe, liver, gall-bladder"! 

 and contents, pancreas, spleen, and blood J 



14-3 

 70 



111 

 73 



75 

 66 





Per 100 live -weight. 





125 

 113 



160 



176 



270 

 6-43 



Increase yielded per week 





Per 100 dry substance of food. 



Total dry substance in increase 



6-2 

 5-2 



365 



8-0 



70 



31-9 



17-6 

 15-7 

 16-7 









Average fat per cent. 





160 

 300 

 600 



18-0 

 330 

 •65 



220 



440 

 70=0 









Looking first to the comparative structure of the animals, so 

 far as it may be considered characteristic or indicative of the de- 

 scription of the food, it is seen that, of stomach and contents, 

 the ruminant ox has a much larger proportion than the rumi- 

 nant sheep, and the ruminant sheep in its turn much more than 

 the non-ruminating pig. Consistently with these facts, we find 

 that the ox consumes in its food a much larger proportion of 



* For the data upon which most of the average results given in the 

 Table are founded, see " Experimental Inquiry into the Composition of 

 some of the Animals fed and slaughtered as Human Food," Phil. Trans. 

 Part II. 1859. In the estimates given " per 100 live-weight " and a per 

 100 dry substance of food/' it is assumed that the oxen and sheep are libe- 

 rally fed on oil-cake, clover-chaff, and roots, and the pigs on barley-meal 

 alone ; with different foods the results will, of course, be different. 



