--------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------
|Weight|Weight| | | | | Salts
Excretions. |in the|in the|Carbon.|Hydrogen.|Oxygen.|Nitrogen.| and
|fresh | dry | | | | | earthy
|state.|state.| | | | |matters.
--------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------
Urine, | 1330| 302 | 108.7| 11.5 | 34.1 | 37.8 | 109.9
Excrements, | 14250| 3525 | 1364.4| 179.8 |1328.9 | 77.6 | 574.6
| | | | | | |
--------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------
Total, | 15580| 3827 | 1472.9| 191.3 |1363.0 | 115.4 | 684.5
--------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------
Total of first| | | | | | |
part of this| 25770| 8392 | 3938.0| 446.5 |3209.2 | 139.4 | 672.2
table, | | | | | | |
--------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------
Difference, | 10190| 4565 | 2465.1| 255.2 |1846.2 | 24.0 | 12.3
--------------+------+------+-------+---------+-------+---------+--------
The weights in these tables are given in grammes. 1 gramme is equal
to 15.44 grains Troy, very nearly.
It will be seen from these tables that a large proportion of carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and earthy matters are again returned to the
soil. From this we infer that more of these matters being present in the
food than were requisite for the purpose of assimilation, they were
removed from the system in the form of excrement. Two suggestions here
present themselves for the consideration of the farmer, viz., that the
manure increases in value in proportion to the richness of food, and
that more of the latter is often given to a cow than is necessary for
the manufacture of healthy chyle.
In view, then, of preventing "bone disorder," which we have termed
_indigestion_, we should endeavor to ascertain what articles are best
for food, and learn, from the experience of others, what have been
universally esteemed as such, and, by trying them on our own animals,
prove whether we actually find them so. Scalded or boiled food is
better adapted to the stomach of animals than food otherwise prepared,
and is so much less injurious. The agents that act on the internal
system are those which, in quantities sufficient for an ordinary meal,
supply the animal system with stimulus and nutriment just enough for its
wants, and contain nothing in their nature inimical to the vital
operations. All such articles are properly termed food. (For treatment,
see _Hide-bound_, p. 196.)