180 
PIERRE A. FISH. 
but they are so variable that they cannot always be depended 
upon. In fact, all of the conditions mentioned are more or less 
variable and serve rather as clues than indisputable facts. The 
healing of the umbilicus may be delayed and the development of 
the teeth and renal fat retarded. 
The writer has been unable to find any literature upon this 
subject, but has information that some twelve or fifteen years 
ago Professors S. H. Gage and V. A. Moore, of the New York 
State Veterinary College, investigated the matter from the histo¬ 
logical side in an effort to determine some difference between the 
blood muscle fibres and structures of other organs of bob veal 
and older veal. No conclusive differences were found. A little 
later the writer attacked the problem in an endeavor to deter¬ 
mine if there might not be a greater amount of glycogen present 
in the meat of the younger than in the older veal. The results 
were not promising and the work was abandoned. Two years 
ago the work was taken up again on the basis of the amount of 
water present in the tissue. It is a generally conceded fact that 
the flesh of young animals contains a greater percentage of water 
than does that of older ones. It is on this basis that the present 
work has been done. Three lines of experiments have been car¬ 
ried on: (i) The determination of the freezing point of the 
meat juices expressed from the tissues. The fewer the solids 
present the nearer will the freezing point come to that of dis¬ 
tilled water, which contains no solids. (2) The determination of 
the specific gravity of the meat juice by means of the pyknometer. 
(3) The determination of the percentage of water present in a 
piece of meat of given weight. The weighing was repeated at 
intervals until a constant weight was obtained. 
The parts used were from the loins and round. The beef and 
mature veal were purchased in the market. Experiments have 
been performed upon 16 bob calves and from 20 to 22 samples of 
market veal and the same number of beef. In all 115 deter¬ 
minations have been made of the freezing point of the various 
specimens and a lesser number of observations made upon the 
specific gravity of the muscle juice and the percentage of water 
f 
