Colorado Fodders. 
15 
§34. At first, I thought that the small amount of reducing 
sugar found in the solution obtained by boiling the hays or fodders 
with the one per cent, solution of sodium hydrate, was due to im¬ 
perfect extraction by the hydrochloric acid or perhaps owed its 
origin to complexes which had been attacked by the hydrochloric 
acid and thereby rendered soluble in the sodic hydrate, but the rela¬ 
tively large amount extracted from the dung by this reagent, for we 
find the same excessive amount in the dungs corresponding to each 
of the six fodders suggests that it is not an accident due to the incom¬ 
pleteness of the action of the hydrochloric acid but that it is due 
rather to the presence of some compound which effectively resists 
the action of the hydrochloric acid but which is soluble in sodic hy¬ 
drate and is either hydrolized by this agent or is made susceptible 
to the action of the hydrochloric acid subsequently used as the 
hydrolytic agent. If this were the indication of even a duplicate 
analysis of the dung corresponding to one of the fodders, one would 
certainly be justified in doubting its sufficiency as the basis of any 
inference, but it is not simply an accidental agreement of duplicate 
results, obtained in the analysis of a single sample of dung, but is 
the result of duplicates made on the dungs corresponding to six 
fodders which differ materially from one another. This difference 
between the fodders and the corresponding dungs may be due to 
changes produced in the fodders during their passage through the 
alimentary tract or to excrementitious matter proper. It seems 
probable that it is the latter. 
§35. In regard to the reducing sugar produced by the action 
of the dilute hydric chlorid, I have in the case of the alfalfa attribu¬ 
ted it to the presence of galactan because the agreement between 
the determination of mucic acid and the reducing power of the in¬ 
verted solution was good; in the other cases I have used the term 
xylan as a general term for the pentosans hydrolized by the dilute 
hydic chlorid. Mucic acid determinations made on the samples of 
corn fodder and native hay indicate the presence of some galactan 
but its quantity is much less than the total reducing power, so it is 
probable that both galactan and xylan are present, but I ]jave used 
the term xylan in all cases except in that of alfalfa. 
§36. The total reducing power of the extract yielded to one 
per cent, sodic hydrate solution by alfalfa hay corresponds to 38.8 
grams, whereas the reducing power of the extract yielded by the feces 
under the same treatment corresponds to 66.7 grams or 1.7 times as 
much. Whatever the source of this reducing power may be it is ev¬ 
idently much more abundant in the extract of the dung voided than 
in the hay consumed. It is probable that the excessive reducing 
power of the sodic hydrate extract of the dung over that of the hay 
is due to its action on fecal matter and not on the undigested rem- 
