20 
Bulletin 93. 
extract is small. In the case here presented the largest amount 
of ether extract consumed in the five days during which the feces 
were collected was 43.76 grams, a little less than an ounce and a 
half. This is a small quantity, but concerning the result there is 
no room for questions, it is not doubtful, for we find in the feces 
92.63 grams of fat or ether extract—more than twice the amount 
consumed, and we find almost exactly the same ratio if we take the 
petroleum extract, i. e., 23.52 grams consumed and 48.99 grams 
voided in the feces. All uncertainty in regard to the coefficient 
disappears in this markedly negative result. While I am unable 
to give any explanation, satisfactory or otherwise, for this anomal¬ 
ous result, except as already suggested, I cannot, in fairness, 
do otherwise than publish the results obtained. 
I see but one question which can still be raised, i. e., the 
character of the sample itself. The experience of Professor Cooke 
as a chemist and his own interest in the experiment ought to be 
a sufficient guaranty of its fairness. The fact that the one sample 
of orts obtained in the experiment gives the same amount of ether 
extract that the sample of hay gave is remarkable, for sheep, when 
they have the opportunity, eat the leaves of alfalfa in prefer¬ 
ence to the stems, and the fact that this hay had been chopped 
would in no way preclude the animals leaving the stems in 
preference to a mixture of leaves and stems. The analysis, as 
already intimated, suggests a sample of hay which had been 
cut when passed full bloom, but by what process the ether 
extract in the feces has been rendered so large is not apparent. 
SECOND SERIES. 
It was my intention to extend the work with the preceding 
hays and fodders to include a study of the alcoholic and aqueous 
extracts together with several other points which appear to me 
interesting and possibly of considerable value. The doubts which 
gathered about the alfalfa hay and the anamalous results obtained 
decided me to take up another series of experiments. I accord¬ 
ingly obtained other sheep and repeated the work de novo. I was 
the more willing to do this, as it would increase the number of 
experiments made and the number of animals experimented with, 
both of which are desirable factors in this kind of work, besides 
there is a scarcity of experiments to determine the coefficients of 
some of the fodders with which I wished to experiment. Some 
of the conditions, too, under which the experiments were con¬ 
ducted were made more favorable. The comfort of the animal 
was better provided for and the spring season was chosen in¬ 
stead of the summer. 
It further seemed advisable to extend the experiments to in¬ 
clude sorghum fodder raised without irrigation and one of our na- 
