KAlvrUAL OF CATTLE-FEEDIISrG. 19 



and gelatigenoiis substances only in containing more snl- 

 pliur, wJiile the proportions of the remaining constituents 

 are ahnost the same. 



Average Composition. — It will be seen that all the 

 important nitrogenous substances which occur in the body 

 are very similar and, on the average, almost identical in 

 composition with the pure albuminoids out of which they 

 were all formed, directly or indii'ectly, in the processes of 

 nutrition and growth. 



This agreement was also found in the investigations of 

 Lawes and Gilbert on whole bodies of animals, already re- 

 ferred to. In these experiments the total quantity of 

 water, fixed mineral matters, fat, and organic substances 

 otlier than fat was determined, and the nitrogen of the 

 Litter was estimated. 



The amount of '^ organic substances other than fat " 

 found directly, agreed almost exactly with that obtained 

 by multiplying the quantity of nitrogen found by tlie 

 usual factor, 6.25 ; in other words, all the organic sub- 

 stances other than fat were found to contain, on tlie aver- 

 age, almost exactly 16 per cent, of nitrogen. 



In the average of all the experiments, the organic matter 

 other than fat was found to be 14.67 per cent, of the dressed 

 weight, and the amount of albuminoids calctilated from the 

 nitrogen, 14.83 per cent. This show^s at once that all the 

 nitrogenous organic matters of the body aside from the 

 three groups already mentioned, e. g,^ certain constituents 

 of the bile, of the juice of the muscles, etc., have, on ac- 

 coimt of their relatively small quantity, no material influ- 

 ence on the elementary composition of the organic sub- 

 stance of the body, and especially none on the percentage 

 of nitrogen. 



