320 
A. S. HEATH. 
sity), which will be found on the advertising pages. It will 
begin instruction on September 21st, and offers many induce¬ 
ments for young men seeking an education in the science of 
veterinary medicine. 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
[Written specially for the American Veterinary Review.] 
THE SOURCES OF SOUND AND HEALTHFUL ANIMAL 
FOOD. 
By A. S. Heath, M.D., V.S., Brooklyn, N. Y. 
The essential requisites of all animal products suitable for 
human consumption are numerous and indispensable. They 
consist in the perfect health of the animal from which they are 
obtained; sanitary environment, pure air, pure water, sound 
food, daily exercise in the open day, ample protection from 
storm, cold, and wet, and absolute cleanliness of animal and sur¬ 
roundings,—and all these in full complement. 
No unhealthy animal can yield a sound product, and no pro¬ 
duct can be too good for human consumption or for profitable 
production. The best only is marketable and profitable. Though 
the best product costs more to produce, it yields a relatively 
larger profit, plus an invaluable reputation for the producer, and 
reputation is an immense capital. Sound food is indispensable. 
So also is quality and quantity of palatable food. Though I 
have great respect for a “ well-balanced ration,” I in nowise de¬ 
spise a goodly degree of the animal’s choice of food. Food that 
is distasteful is seldom easy of digestion. The human stomach 
ejects food that the taste loathes, and especially when the sys¬ 
tem is impaired by illness, or made irritable by satiety. This 
holds almost equally true of cows made too artificial by pamper¬ 
ing, or impaired constitution from too long inbreeding, or lack 
of proper selection of progenitors, or from any other cause im¬ 
pairing health and vigor. The French have taken advantage of 
