362 Annual Report of the Consulting Chemist for 1883. 
present time frequently possess less value than before the in- 
troduction of improved crushing machinery in oil-mills, the 
following, selected from a large number of analyses referring to 
hard-pressed linseed-cakes, may be quoted : — 
Composition of Hard Pressed Linseed-cakes. 
No. 1. 
No. 2. 
No. 3. 
No. 4. 
No. 
5. 
12-02 
11-03 
12-40 
11-01 
11 
10 
Oil 
6-76 
7-93 
7-37 
6-33 
6 
83 
31-75 
27-81 
28-31 
32-94 
25 
87 
Mucilage, siig<Tr,and digestible'! 
33-62 
35-99 
36-13 
35-07 
36 
82 
Indigestible woody fibre (cel-| 
10-37 
716 
9-39 
8-90 
10 
73 
tMineral matters (asb) . . 
5-48 
10 08 
G-40 
5-75 
8 
65 
100-00 
ioa-00 
100-00 
100-00 
100 
00 
* Containing nitrogen 
5-08 
4-45 
4-53 
5-27 
4 
•14 
t Including sand 
-19 
4-74 
1-35 
•15 
3 
-65 
It will be seen that the cake to which the analysis marked 
No. 4 applies, contained only 6J per cent, of oil, but that it was 
very rich in nitrogenous compounds (albuminoids), and, prac- 
tically speaking, contained no sand. The analysis marked 
No. 5 refers to an adulterated linseed-cake, which, moreover, 
was made from dirty, that is to say, badly screened seed ; but 
the No. 4 cake I found was made entirely from unusually clean 
linseed. Unfortunately it was very hard pressed, and poor in 
oil in consequence, and I have no doubt all the more in- 
digestible because it was so rich in albuminoids. 
The sender of this cake wrote to me on the 26th of November : 
" I would ask your attention to discover, if possible, anything 
to account for the death of two cows which have been feeding 
upon the cake." 
On analysis I did not find a trace of any metallic or mineral 
poisons in it, nor did the microscope reveal any injurious or 
questionable weed-seeds ; the cake, indeed, was made, as just 
stated, from unusually clean linseed and nothing else, but, 
unfortunately, it was as hard as a board. I think it very likely 
that it caused the death of the two cows, not because it con- 
tained any positively poisonous ingredients, but because it was 
poor in oil and rich in nitrogenous compounds, and was in a 
mechanical condition in which such cake, as usually given to 
stock, is unquestionably most indigestible. 
