DISEASE OF OSSEOUS TISSUE IN THE HORSE. 
649 
time, for had such been the case, our investigation would 
certainly have been still less perfect; since, had a redun¬ 
dancy of the phosphates been detected, a clue might pos¬ 
sibly have been obtained to the morbid changes that were 
going on in the organism. 
On looking over the pages of Headland on the Action of 
Medicines, J find the following remarks, which, perhaps, 
may throw a little light on the cause of this disease. At 
page 129, he makes this statement: 
“ Lime is deficient in quantity in the grain of some cereals, 
especially in that grain of universal consumption, wheat. 
To some rustics who live chiefly upon bread the wanting 
properties of lime may be made up by the use of spring 
water. To others, by the addition of milk to the diet; to 
others, again, by the consumption of potatoes. This fact, that 
the two latter articles of diet are almost universally adopted, 
even by the poorest of our country, may, perhaps, explain 
the fact, that the deficiency of lime in wheaten bread is not 
general^ felt here. But the contrary may be the case in some 
parts of Europe, as in the rural districts of Germany, where 
the peasants subsist mainly, or entirely, upon stale black 
bread. Thus Liebig proposes, in making dough for baking, 
to knead the flour with lime-water. He states that bread 
made in this way is both wholesome and agreeable.” 
In a letter received from Dr. Voelcker, of the Royal Agricul¬ 
tural Society, he says, “ Professor Johnson, in his Lectures on 
Agricultural Chemistry, gives the following analysis of bran : 
Water ...... 13T 
Gluten. . . . .. . 19 - 3 
Oil . . . . . . 4<;f 
Husk, and a little starch . . . 55 ; 6 
Saline matters (ash) . . . 7'3 
1000 
“The ash of bran consists almost entirely of phosphates, 
viz., phosphates of lime and magnesia (bone earth) 46 per 
cent, in round numbers, according to Boussingault, and the 
rest is alkaline phosphates, principally phosphate of potash ; 
there is only one half per cent, of silica in the ash of bran. 
“ Johnson’s analysis agrees pretty well with analyses made 
by others. 
“ All analysts give a good deal of oil in bran, also much 
gluten, or, properly speaking, albuminous compounds. 
“ I have found from 4 to of oil, and from 14 to 18 per 
cent, of albuminous compounds. 
“The composition of bran somewhat varies ; and, I think, 
xxxiii. 66 
