304 REPORT OF THE CHEMIST OF THE 
ARTIFICIAL vs. ANIMAL DIGESTION. 
By means of artificial digestion of feeding-stuffs we can deter- 
mine the relative digestibility for the albuminoids of the several 
substances, and thus secure a measure of the digestibility of the 
fodder itself. That this artificial digestion corresponds with the 
actual results obtained with animals is not claimed, but that it 
comes quite close to those figures may be shown by actual trials 
in comparison of artificial and animal digestion. I have on four 
occasions, at the New York Agricultural Station, been able to 
test the value of artificial digestion along with animal digestion 
and the results were, in round numbers, as follows for the albumi- 
noids of the fodder : 
Pepsin Animal 
digestion. digestion 
Cornifodder eyes sane ete ec Sire 6 Be Seg aes ca 55 49 
Sopa vod don Fis His havc alah Sate ohare PRs stan s ot eee mee 75 70 
OPCHAEA-O rasa ays ili) kaa taty iy le ate lems Fh aveie 62 60 
Gorrmrmealicg ore ak a AM eel a re cor ee ean 64. 58 
We see by the above that the coefficients of digestibility obtained 
by artificial digestion for the albuminoids were invariably higher 
than the actual results secured with the animals. 
The digestibility of the albuminoids of corn meal, as found in 
the above trial, was much lower than has been given heretofore. 
In this case the digestibility of the meal was found with cows in 
a ration of corn meal and hay, the digestibility of the hay having 
been previously determined separately with the same animals and 
assumed to be the same in the ration as when fed alone. It should 
be borne in mind that the digestibility of corn meal as given, in 
most cases at least, has been made with hogs, animals very differ- 
ent in all respects from ruminants. With one exception, on a 
soft corn, I have never yet been able to obtain digestion coefficients 
for the albuminoids of corn meal as high as those given in the ° 
German tables or as found by Jordant in his trials with hogs. 
The results given in the previous table for corn meal by pepsin 
digestion stands in about the same relation to animal digestion as 
in the trials with other feeds. Whether the digestion coefficient 

*See American Chemical Journal, vol. VIII, No. 6. 
. + Report of Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 

