482 ANALYSIS OF CONTINENTAL JOURNALS. 
found that oats and straw were the best aliments for horses, 
after which came barley and rye ; that oats and straw in less 
quantity than hay would keep horses in better condition and 
greater vigour. The commission found that the aliments 
rich in carbon in proportion to the nitrogen were the best ; 
but competent physiologists, preoccupied with the results of 
the experiments of Magendie, were persuaded that the nutri- 
tive qualities of aliments were in proportion to their richness 
in nitrogen. 
The importance of the neutral bodies is not ignored as 
productors of caloric; but it must be borne in mind that 
these bodies, to 42 of carbon contain 28 of water, while in 
120*5 of, or its combustible equivalent in fatty matter, hardly 
any water is contained. Is it not to this composition of the 
neutral bodies that the weakness, the disposition to sweat in 
horses which are fed on potatoes, and even on barley and 
rye, are to be attributed? In hay and oats, which the author 
considers as the type- of the aliments, the carbon of the 
respiratory elements is to the nitrogen in the hay as 2020 to 
100, in the oats as 1919 to 100. An aliment to suffice to the 
wants of a working horse must at least contain that amount 
of carbon in proportion to its nitrogen ; moreover, if we wish 
to obtain all the available force and speed their organization 
is capable of, this carbon must be furnished by food in which 
this combustible is concentrated, as, for instance, in hay and 
oats, which are distinguished for the quantity of fatty matter 
they contain. 
What are the effects produced by either an excess of the 
plastic, or the respiratory principles in the food ? 
The plastic being principally the element of construction 
when the animal has completed its growth, and it is not 
required for the production of milk, foetus, sperm, &c., it has 
but a limited use, viz., that of the reconstruction of -the 
organs allotted to it; taken in excess it circulates in the blood 
and modifies its properties. 
The respiratory principles, on the contrary, being ele- 
ments of consumption, are constantly required in great 
quantity. 
When taken beyond the requirements, or the wants of the 
animal, they are deposited in a proper tissue for their re- ' 
ception without causing any unfavorable result or functional 
derangement. There is no doubt of the great advantage in 
using up all the carbon and hydrogen in the food, by work or 
exercise; but if these bodies are not immediately consumed 
by combustion, they remain in reserve in the shape of fat, to 
serve for the respiration in cases of insufficient nutriment. 
