650 ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE. 
The period, however, will vary ; depending, in all probability, 
on the complexity of the digestive organs, and the length of 
the intestinal tube. This in man, and other carnivorous 
animals, is said to be intermediate between that of the carnivora 
on the one hand and the herbivora on the other, being about 
six or seven times the length of the body. In the carnivora 
it is only from three to five times the length of their bodies. 
In the herbivora, as sheep, twenty-seven times ; and in others 
it varies from twelve to sixteen times. In some we find the 
deficiency in length made up in breadth ; for instance, in the 
horse, in whom the intestines are not remarkable for their 
length, but the caecum and large intestines are enormously 
expanded in diameter, and these have been by many physi- 
ologists supposed to perform the office of a second stomach. 
Horses long kept in marshy districts contiguous to the sea 
are frequently known to be the subjects of nephritic affections, 
and oedema, general or local, these being, in all probability, caused 
by the saline substances there existent. And kiln-dried oats, 
after having become wet by a sea voyage, are often produc- 
tive of diabetes. 
Wheat and barley, it is well known, unless they are caused 
to undergo germination , frequently become the source of disease, 
the one producing laminitis as a sequela of gastritis, and the 
other giving rise to depilation of the skin. This last-named 
admits of an easy solution, if we view the lining of the stomach 
and the envelope of the body as a continuation merely of one 
and the same membrane. The former, perhaps, cannot be so 
easily traced. 
But he feared diseases of the skin had not received that 
attentive investigation which they merit, and we are too apt to 
jumble them together under two general heads — mange and 
surfeit. He had, however, reason to believe the subject has 
been taken up by one of his colleagues, Mr. Simonds ; and he 
doubted not, from his well-known perseverance, he would not 
leave it until he has by his researches thrown some light upon 
it. ’Twill well repay him for his labours. 
Under this head he was anxious to point out an error that 
exists respecting germination. ’Tis one of some importance, 
and chemistry alone enables us to demonstrate the fact. 
Exciting of the fermenting process in grain DOES NOT increase 
its true nutritive property, as is commonly thought. Professor 
Thomson found the soluble salts to be much diminished in malt 
as compared with barley, and also the quantity of nitrogen and 
carbon to be lessened. The bulk, it is true, becomes increased, 
but not the weight. He says, “ If we consider 100 parts by 
weight of barley are converted by the process of malting into 
