FARM STOCK, BREEDING, AND FEEDING. 595 
then will the body waste, and the fat of the inside will go to 
supply warmth, respiration, and motion. 
The human frame belonging to an omnivorous animal 
requires that the blood should be kept supplied with nitroge- 
nous matters, which, surely, can be obtained from milk, eggs, 
maccaroni, cheese, &c., but, to attempt to obtain it from the 
starch of potatoes, rice, sago, sugar, or other carbonaceous 
foods, would be futile. The wheat contains about 20 per 
cent, of nitrogen or gluten, and 80 of starch or carbon — 
hence it assimilates the nearest to cheese and butter, flesh 
and fat. It has been found that where man is confined to 
a vegetable diet only, he becomes weak and diseased ; such 
has been the case with the Irish and the Brahmins, where 
cholera and other such like diseases have commenced ; 
indeed, it has been found that the urine of vegetarians has 
changed its nature, the uric acid being changed into a sugar 
and disease engendered. On this head see Andrews's ‘ Do- 
mestic Medicine ,’ article — Diet. 
The nitrogen, or flesh and blood forming principle in some 
vegetables, and that of flesh and eggs, are so similar, that 
they may be considered identical. Dr. Playfair gives the 
following: — Wheat flour, 13*9; pease, 15*67 ; eggs, 15*92; 
ox blood, 15*76; ox flesh, 15*67. “ Thus (says Playfair), 
we are led to the startling conclusion that plants contain 
within them the flesh of animals ready formed.” The waste 
nitrogen from the blood is expelled from the system by urea ; 
hence, if there is want of animal food in the body, this 
excrement becomes changed from its natural state. The 
watery state of some vegetables, and their nourishing 
capabilities, may, in some measure, be seen by the following 
table ; but the relative value of various foods must be taken 
in proportion to what is required, either of flesh, fat, or the 
necessary functions of life : 
Nitro Organic 
lbs. Albumen. Water. Matter. Carbon. 
100— Beans 31 . . 14 . . 82 . . 51 
„ Flesh 25 . . — . . — . . 0 
„ Lentils .... 33 . . 16 . . 81 . . 48 
„ Oatmeal .... 11 . . 9 . . 89 . . 68 
„ Barleymeal . . 14 . . 15 . . 82 . . 68£ 
„ Hay 8 '. . 16 . . 76 . . 68 
„ Turnips .... 1 . . 89 . . 10 . . 9 
„ Carrot 2 . . 87 . . 12 . . 10 
„ Potatoes. ... 2 . . 72 . . 27 . . 25 
„ Red Beet . . . 1£ . . 89 . . 10 . . 8» 
„ Blood 20 . . — . . — . . 0 
The numbers in the first column represent the quantity of 
gluten, and may be considered as the equivalent value of the 
