594 Abstract Report of Agricultural Discussions. 
mould were tlie most likely cause of it. Inferior — that is, mouMy — 
oats liave also iu several cases done mischief. The experiments 
which were tried at the Veterinary College were so conclusive to my 
mind that I was induced to inquire into similar cases, and I have 
learnt since that mouldy cakes often produce serious injury to 
cattle. 
This is another argument which I adduce in order to impress upon 
you that you should not rely merely upon analytical results. A 
knowledge of the percentage composition of the cakes may be useful, 
but it does not tell you everything. If you have three or fom- different 
kinds of cake, of equally good condition and equally fresh, then the 
analysis will bring out some useful results. It will point out, for 
example, which cake is the most fattening, which contains most oil, or 
most albuminous matter. We have then comparative results from 
which some useful information may be collected. But the mere 
analysis does not tell whether a cake is even wholesome or not. Of 
what use, indeed, would it be to analyze a cake such as I have referred 
to ? Its mouldy condition is qiute sufficient evidence to condemn it 
to the dimg-heap. The numerous cases of ppisoning with cakes that 
have become mouldy, brought under my notice, leave no doubt as to 
the serious mischief which they may produce. All refuse matters 
which have a tendency to become mouldy, or which contain fungi, are 
for the same reason injurious. 
I have here a very strange mixture which has been imported at a 
low price by a gentleman who thought of giving it to his cattle. It 
is composed of the sweepings of an oil-miU and the warehouse of a 
general provision dealer. Having carefully separated its various con- 
stituents, seeds, and bits of oilcake, I could not find anything inju- 
rious ; but under the microscope I discovered at first the germs of 
fungi, which have since developed so plainly as to be seen by the 
naked eye. The sample I now produce has killed not less than 
fourteen sheep, three horses, and a pony, belonging to this gentleman, 
who gave them only in a small quantity. The whole of the animals 
were killed within two days. 
There is, therefore, very great danger iu buying any description of 
food that is in a bad condition ; and since chemical analysis does 
not express the condition or quality, we must not draw from analytical 
results conclusions which they were never intended to convey ; and it 
is perfectly absurd for any chemist to say that you should rely more 
upon tabulated analyses than on any other examination. 
With regard to other feeding materials, I will merely mention, in 
conclusion, that sometimes the consumer is not safe even when he sends 
his own barley to the mill to be ground ; he may get barlcy-meal back, 
it is true, but with something else in addition. I have here two samples 
of barley-meal : one of them was returned from the mill mixed with 
sawdust — chips of sawdust, which you can pick out mechanically ; the 
other was mixed with a considerable quantity of sand, in the proportion 
of nearly 10 per cent. ! These admixtures gave to the barley-mcal 
such a disagreeable taste that the animals would not eat it, and this 
led to the examination of tlio meal. The farmer may learn from 
