452 Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 
always done at the expense of the sugar, which is one of the most 
vahiable articles they had. An animal always eats until he has 
enough carbon in his stomach ; he then stops. He might take 
double the quantity of albumen, but he would not stop until he had 
got sufficient soluble carbon, and the soluble carbon was the first 
thing to disappear in the process of fermentation. He did not think, 
therefore, that economy of food was to be arrived at by a process of 
that kind. 
Mr. Dknt had talked with several gentlemen who had cooked 
food, and most of them were inclined to give it up ; but he had 
never yet found them disposed to abandon the system of pulping. 
He had been xising malt-combs in the way mentioned by Mr. Frerc, 
and found, in the case of milch cows, that when the supply of combs 
failed the milk fell off, and when the supply was renewed the milk 
increased. 
Professor Simonds rose simply to answer an inquiry of Mr. Frere's 
whether the commencement of putrefactive fermentation was likely 
to interfere with the process of digestion. It was well known, 
especially in the case of carnivorous animals, that when food which 
was positively in a state of putrefaction was exposed to the action of 
the antiseptic properties of gastric juice, the process was arrested, 
and the food rendered sweet at once. There were proofs of that 
with regard to the carnivora ; and as the gastric juice in herbivorous 
animals does not differ from that in carnivorous, he supposed that it 
would act in a similar manner when in contact with food in a state 
of incipient putrefaction. Such food, therefore, would not be likely 
to interfere with the process of digestion. His opinion was that, 
with reference to these matters, we dealt too much with chemistry, 
and not sufficiently with physiology, or a knowledge of the animal 
economy, 
Mr. Lawes had spoken of the watery flesh of animals fed ou 
cooked food, and there was scarcely any limit to the quantity of 
water that might enter the animal organism, if we gave food which 
contained a large quantity of water. Speaking as a pathologist, he 
believed that a great ninnber of diseases among the lower animals 
arose from the bad state of blood induced by excess of water, and 
deficiency of nitrogenized matter in the food. The practical farmer 
knew that if, in the lambing season, he gave his ewes too many 
white turnips, or other green food, which had grown rapidly, and 
contained a largo amount of water, it would lead to disease and loss ; 
whereas, if he put them on dry food, containing, weight for weight, 
a large proportion of nitrogenized matter, a good quality of blood 
was produced, and the health of the animal preserved. Admitting 
that cooked food had the effect of accumulating weight, to say 
nothing about flesh, in a certain space of time, he was inclined to 
think that this arose from the facility which it gave for the digestion 
of the food by anticipating a part of the process commonly carried 
on by the action of the gastric juice. 
But it was questionable policy giving to an animal, and espe» 
