Dec. i, 1925 A Chemical Study of the Flesh of Emaciated Cattle 1005 
The musculature was fairly well developed and of firm consistency, 
and the freshly cut surface of the meat was normal in appearance. 
There was no kidney fat and only a little intramuscular fat. The 
marrow in the femur was of firm consistency. The connective tissue 
between the muscle bundles was a trifle watery. 
METHODS OF ANALYSIS 
For the most part the methods used were those previously de¬ 
scribed by the authors ( 6 ). Purines were determined by the method 
of Kruger and Schittenhelm (#), creatinine by Folin’s method ( 3 ), 
glycogen by Pfluger’s method as described by Grube (5), sugar by 
Hoag and’s method (7), and urea by the urease method ( 8 ). All 
determinations were made in duplicate, and the averages of closely 
agreeing results are reported. 
COMPOSITION OF FLESH FROM EXTREMELY EMACIATED 
CATTLE 
At first, in order to ascertain in what important respects, if any, 
the flesh of this class of cattle differs in composition from that of 
fat cattle, a rather complete analysis was made of the muscle tissue 
from each of three hind quarters obtained from a like number of 
extremely emaciated cattle. These data are reported in Table III, 
together with analyses of fat cattle obtained in a previous investiga¬ 
tion. Several very marked differences in the composition of the lean 
meat from the two classes of cattle are apparent. The flesh from 
the extremely emaciated cattle is characterized by a much higher 
moisture content and by a wider ratio between protein and moisture 
than the flesh from the fat cattle. On the other hand, the flesh from 
fat cattle contains an appreciably higher proportion of each of the 
following constituents: Ash, ether extract, total nitrogen, total 
protein, total phosphorus, soluble phosphorus, soluble organic phos¬ 
phorus, and free acid. The percentages of purine and creatinine in 
the flesh of the extremely emaciated cattle are within normal limits, 
but the apparent absence of sugar is noteworthy, since good-quality 
beef usually contains between 0.15 and 0.50 per cent dextrose. 
Table III. —Composition of flesh from extremely emaciated cattle as compared 
with that from fat cattle 
[Results are expressed in terms of percentages of the fresh material] 
Constituent 
Extremely emaciated cattle 
Fat cat¬ 
tle, aver¬ 
age of 5 
steers 
No. 689 
No. 707 
No. 711 
Per cent 
Per cent 
Per cent 
Per cent 
Moisture_ _ .... 
79.96 
79.75 
81.39 
74.20 
Ash.__ _ 
.96 
1.01 
.96 
1.07 
Ether extract__ 
.43 
.34 
.38 
2.71 
Total nitrogen- _ _ 
3.14 
3.14 
2.88 
3.44 
Protein (N X 6 .25)____ 
19.63 
19.63 
18.00 
21.50 
Ratio, protein to moisture_ 
1:4.1 
1:4.1 
1:4.5 
1:3.5 
Soluble nitrogen_ . . 
.74 
.98 
.96 
.98 
Coagulable nitrogen_ _ . _ 
.59 
.62 
. 55 
Amino nitrogen_ _ 
.109 
.085 
.073 
.089 
Purine nitrogen. .. ... . _ __ . 
.050 
.055 
.055 
Purine_ . 
. 110 
. 120 
. 120 
Creatinine_ _ . _ ... .... 
.35 
.37 
.30 
Dextrose_ . . ... __ 
None. 
None. 
Total phosphorus__ 
.175 
.177 
.158 
.203 
Soluble phosphorus_ _ _ 
.136 
.136 
.125 
.155 
Soluble inorganic phosphorus__ ... 
.117 
.120 
.110 
.111 
Soluble organic phosphorus.___ 
.019 
.016 
.015 
.044 
Aciwty... 
. 50 
. 42 
. 35 
.74 
