HANDBooK'f^hef/^f^M SerieM CMALMERS MORTOtl OlTHEhAF^M Animal Life. BY Professor Brown Bradb M cW-a^CO 9.B0UVER1LO L.ONDO>J LIBRARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS Arn?T^ULTURAL NO SF ■ 71 sou 37g This book may be kept out TWO WEEKS only, and is subject to a fine of TWO CENTS a day thereafter. It will be due on the day indicated below. t.i. •■ • -H or o CARD \y/' 'u^ l/y HANDBOOK OF THE FAEM SEEIES. Edited bt J. CHALMEES MOBTON, EDITOR OF THE "AGRICULTURAL CVCLOP^BIA *, " THE "AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE; THE "farmer's calendar;" THE "FARMER'S ALMANAC," ETC. HANDBOOK OF THE FAR3I SERIES Edited by J. CHALMERS MORTON. LIFE ON THE FARM. ANIMAL LIFE GEORGE T. BROWN, AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT, PRIVY COUNCIL. LONDON: BRADBTJEY, AGNEW, & CO., 9, BOUYERIE STREET. 1886. J5^ / The present Volume is one of a series discussing the Cultiva- tion of the Farm, its Live Stock, and its Cultivated Plants, Farm and Estate Equipment, Dairying, and Farm Labour, the Chemistry of Agriculture, and the Processes of Animal and Vegetable Life. Among the writers who have been engaged on them are Messrs. T. Bowick, W. Burness, G. Murray, the late W. T. Carrington, the Eev. G. Gilbert, Messrs. James Long, J. Hill, Sanders Spencer, and J. C. Morton, Professors G. T. Brown, J. Wortley-Axe, and J. Scott, the late Professor James Buckman, Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, F.R.S., and Mr. R. Warington, F.C.S. PEEFACE. For this Volume, whicli, whatever the order of their publication, is properly the last of any series professing to cover the agricultural field, we are indebted to Professor G. T. Brown, the Professional Head of the Agricultural Department of the Privy Council, whose long experience, both as student and as teacher of the whole class of subjects here treated, eminently qualifies him for the task he has undertaken. An Index and a Glossary of scientific terms will be found at the end of the book. J. C. M. CONTENTS, PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 CHAP. I. — Beginnings of Life 6 II. — Organs of Digestion ...... 17 III. — Blood in Circulation ....... 32 IV. — Respiration 42 y. — The Nutritive Process Completed .... 52 yi. — The Nervous System , 73 y II.— The Battle of Life 87 yill. — Early Maturity of Live Stock .... 97 IX. — "What is to ;be done ? . . . . . . . 113 X.— Decay and Death 128 GLOSSARY AND INDEX 137 LIFE ON THE FAKM ANIMAL LIFE. INTKODUCTIOK Life — and its negation, death — are subjects which have puzzled the wise people of all ages. What is life ? is a question which the Sphinx might have put to OEdipus with the certainty of not getting an answer ; and the same question even in the present day fails to call forth a reply which satisfies the inquirer. Perhaps no answer can be given which would : all that we can say about life is that it is the sum total of the actions which are always going on in living beings. Or, if the reader prefer Mr. Herbert Spencer's philosophical definition, life is — " The definite combination of heterogeneous changes, both simultaneous and successive, in correspondence with external co-exist- ences and sequences." This answer may do for the modern biologist ; it would not have saved OEdipus from the Sphinx. Living things are quite apart from things which are not living. Mr. Huxley tells us that science knows no link between them. It is not a question of beauty of form or delicacy of structure, or intricacy in the arrangement of parts. In all these a crystal may be above a plant or an 2 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. animal, but the animal or plant is alive, the crystal is not ; and between these two states there is a gulf which no one has yet been able to bridge. Life does not arise as the result of the union of particles of non-living matter under certain conditions of heat, light, and electricity ; nor is complexity of organisation essential for its development. Even in its small beginnings, life is only to be seen as an outcome of pre-existing life. A little world, so small as to be unseen by the unaided eye, is open to the observer with the microscope. In this little world life is seen in its most simple form : the living thing, a mass of jelly (bioplasm), may belong either to the animal or plant kingdom. The clear jelly can move, in fact does send forth arms and legs, and draw them in again, and by-and-by resolves itself into most fantastic shapes. But more than this, it can feed, and breathe, and carry on its circulation without stomach, or lungs, or heart, doing all quite perfectly and without effort by merely taking advantage of the state of life in which it finds itself; im- bibing the fluids in which it lives, using all that is useful and rejecting what is unfit for its support, growing day by day, and now and then sending off small masses from itself which break away and become new and independent beings. Finally, it becomes worn out, and in the common course of things dies, aud undergoes solution in the water in which it has lived ; unless, haply, the term of its calm life is cut short by some other animate thing, a little higher in the scale than itself. Thus the living jelly seems, in its little world, to be a parody of the living being in the greater w^orld. It lives, grows, assimilates food, reproduces its kind, gets worn out at last, and pays the penalty of being by falling into the state of being not. IXTRODUCTION. 3 Higher up in the life grade, bioplasm gets a definite form, and is surrounded by a membrane or cell-wall. Cells so formed unite together or become long or flat or otherwise changed, and so form organs and tissues ; and living things thus built up can now be classed as animals, or plants having certain characters which separate them from each other, but also many w^hich connect them to- gether; so many, indeed, that Mr. Francis Darwin has given us a fairy story about the " Analogies of Plant and Animal Life," more w^onderful, because more true, than any of the thousand and one stories of the "Arabian Nights." Plants, or parts of them, can move about from place to place. Some of them take care of their young quite as well as animals do. Others show likes and dislikes, go to sleep and awake. Many are very sensitive, and some seem to possess instinct and memory — qualities which have in our ideas been limited to the members of the animal kingdom. Mr. Francis Darwin ends his story in these words, w^hich are worth noticing : — " I have tried to show that a true relationship exists between the physiology of the two kingdoms. Until a man begins to work at plants he is apt to grant to them the word * alive ' in rather a meagre sense. But the more he works, the more vivid does the sense of their vitality become. The plant physiologist has much to learn from the worker who confines himself to animals. Possibly, however, the process may be partly reversed — it may be that from the theory of plant-physi- ology we may learn something about the machinery of our own lives." Animals, from the low^est to the highest, differ from plants chiefly in their powers of digesting and B 2 4 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. assimilating food, and in this matter the advantage is, in some respects, on the side of the plant. To make this point quite clear it is necessary to state that all living beings undergo waste ; every movement causes the loss of some part of the structures. This waste is made good by the food on which the being lives being changed into the tissues of the animal or the plant. This process is called " assimilation." Living or organised beings may be resolved into a few elements,* about a dozen, of which the principal are oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus. All these are united to form the tissues which are distinguished as albuminoid, and the first three to form tissues which are non-nitrogenous. Food must contain the elements of which the organism is made up : but now occurs the very great difference in the re- quirements of animals and plants in regard to the way in which the elements must be arranged so as to form food which can be assimilated or changed into their own structures. Taking the animal first, we know, without trying the experiment, that it cannot live on the elements of which its structures are built, unless those elements have been joined together in some way so as to come very near to the actual tissues which are to be repaired. The animal body demands that its albuminoids and fats be ready made before it can make good use of them ; and if, instead of giving them in this form, we offer the elements of which they are made, the animal dies of starvation, in the presence of an abundance of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, * See "Chemistry of the Fanu," by K. Waiungton. Bradbury, Agiiew, &Co. INTRODUCTION. 5 and nitrogen, with sulphur and phosphorus, which its organism can receive but is quite unable to use in their elemental form. Exactly at the point where the animal fails the plant triumphs. Food in the most simple form is what it is most capable of using. Nitrogen and hydrogen it can get from ammonia, carbon and oxygen from carbonic acid ; in fact, the elements which are necessary for its organism are taken from the air, water, and soil, and united together to form the albuminoids and non-nitrogenous compounds which are necessary to supply the animal kingdom with food. Plants, indeed, can assimilate inorganic substances and change them into organic and living matter ; animals cannot assimilate inorganic substances, but must Avait until plants have done the work of organisation for them. Animal life therefore depends on plant life, and in the scheme of the luiiverse the " herb yielding seed " is the basis of organisation. In the following pages the object of the w^riter is to explain in simple terms some of the actions which are going on in the organism of the higher animals, and par- ticularly of the animals which form the Stock on the Farm. Books on the subject of biology are numerous and to the scientist endlessly interesting, but the writer of this book cannot advise the reader for whom it is intended to pkmge into the mysteries of biogenesis. He can, how- ever, advise him to study the preceding Handbooks, especially the one on Plant Life, as a preparation for the reading of this, which, as stated in the Preface, comes properly in its place as the latest of the series. CHAPTER I. BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. How Animals are Formed, and how they Grow — Necessity for Division of Labour in Scientific Work — Limits of the Present Inquiry — Structure and Changes of the Serum — Development of the Embryo — Growth — Nutrition — Sketch of the Various Processes of Waste and Repair of the Structures of the Animal Body — Selective Power of Tissue — Secretion — Excretion. Animal Life on tlie Farm is a title which covers a good deal of ground. And it may be well to state at once how much of the field is to be explored. On a farm of very limited size, the scientific inquirer might easily find work to last him for life, and yet leave a. vast amount unfinished. Indeed, the owner of such a happy hunting ground must be a very accomplished person if he undertake to touch the confines of all the subjects which would be presented to his notice. As a geologist, he would delve into the earth in search of rocks and beds. As a chemist, he would follow out, in the laboratory, the work of analysis. Then coming to the living things, he must assume the functions of the botanist, to work out the history of Plant Life ; and in dealing with Animal Life on the farm, he would play the parts of entomologist in examining and classifying insects : as an ornithologist, he would devote his attention to the structures and habits of birds; and as a physiologist, he would have to study all the phenomena of life. In fact. BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 7 if any one scientist started with the idea of doing all the scientific work which could be done on a farm, he would soon find it necessary to take with him several other people as clever as himself, and assign to each his special work. This reasonable course has been adopted in the preparation of the series of Handbooks, of which this is to be the com- pletion ; and it remains for the writer to limit himself mainly to that section of the subject of Animal Life on the Farm which refers to farm animals proper — that is to say, horses, cattle, sheep, and swine. Much that will be written may be applied to all living things, but in working out details of vital processes, it will be an object to bring all the facts as far as possible to bear on those animals with which the farmer has most concern. It will be interesting as well as convenient to introduce the subject of Animal Life by a glance at the changes which occur in that wonderful body which is called an " ^gg " 01* ovum ; out of which it is said all living things come. A bird's egg is the best example of the " ovum," because it is large enough for its parts to be seen without the aid of any lens. The ovum of the mare or the ewe differs from that of the bird chiefly in its extreme minute- ness — and it may be said that the eggs of all animals are much alike, except in the matter of bulk. Taking any egg as a sample, it may be seen that the several parts are the yolk with its investing membrance — and the minute cell or germinal vesicle, which is placed at one part of the circumference of the yolk. The shell of the egg of the bird and the part called the white need not be specially noticed, as they are not essential parts of the typical ovum. The first thing to be noted in regard to the ovum is that it contains a small mass of living material 5 ANIMAT. LIFE ON THE FAKM. — the germinal vesicle in which the vital processes com- mence which result in the formation of the embryo. Development — When an egg of a bird is held in the hand there is nothing to indicate that it is alive, but it is only necessary to keep it for a short time at a tempera- ture of something^ like a hundred deo^rees of Fahrenheit's thermometer to prove that it must have been alive, as the moderate heat of the incubator could not have originated life in the creature which emero^es from the eo^o^. Birds' eggs are not transparent, and the changes which occur during hatching can only be seen by taking eggs from the sitting bird or from the incubator at fixed hours and opening them ; but the eggs of some animals — aquatic molluscs, for instance — are transparent, and the process of evolution or development of the embryo can be observed in them under the microscope with perfect ease. From actual observation of the changes which occur during the period of incubation or hatching, it is certain that the following account of the formation of the organs and structure of the embryo in one of the higher animals, say a mare or a cow, is strictly accurate. The germinal vesicle is the seat of the first changes which occur. As the ovum becomes mature, the germinal vesicle gradually fades away and gives place to a single cell which is a mass of bioplasm or living jelly inclosed in a cell-wall. As soon as the egg is placed under favourable conditions, after being rendered fertile by contact with the sperm-cell of the male, other changes begin. The mass of bioplasm shows living activity by dividing into two, four, eight, sixteen, and then an indefinite number of parts. The yolk undergoes division at the same time, and BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. \) at length a mass of spherical bodies is formed, which is known as the mulberry mass. The cells forming the mulberry mass pass to the circum- ference of the yolk-sac, and form a continuous layer in the inner surface of the membrane. Then the cells accumu- late at one point which is the centre in which the em- bryonic tissues are to appear, and is therefore described as the germinal area. It may be remarked that the mem- brane in which the germinal area is formed is composed of two layers, an upper or outer " serous layer," and an inner or lower "mucous layer;" a third, or "vascular layer,'* is added after a time. Soon a clear space appears in the midst of the germinal area, and in this clear space the rudiments of the young animal begin to arrange themselves. First the foundation of the brain and spinal cord is laid, and then off-shoots of the membrane proceed downwards to form the walls of the chest and abdomen. From the inner layer of the germinal membrane and part of the middle one the organs of the chest and abdomen are formed, the middle one forming the bulk of the internal organs. Limbs are formed by outgrowths of the germinal membrane, the middle layer forming the bones and many of the soft parts. In their early state the limbs are only small knobs on each side of the trunk. As they increase, the different segments appear, and the divisions of the terminal parts of the extremities are marked out and completed. Growth of the Foetus. — From the time of the fixing of the type of the structures of the young animal by the process of development, the stage of growth — that is, the increase in bulk of organs and parts which are already 10 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. formed — begins, and goes on until the young one is suffi- ciently advanced to be removed from the uterus of the mother, and lead a separate existence. This separation is effected in the act of parturition. Nutrition. — When the young animal is separated from the organism of its mother it brings into use organs which were in an inactive state while it remained in the uterus, where the principal function was the circulation of the blood, which supplied the materials out of which the tissues were formed. Now, in the outer world, it has to obtain food of a different kind, and use it in a dif- ferent way. It is required to breathe in order to get oxygen to burn up the superfluous carbon in its body and keep up heat, wdiich it no longer derives from its mother. While performing these functions it moves from place to place, and its excretor}^ organs, which were of little use wdiile it was in the foetal state, are now actively at work. The sum of all this is loss of material in many ways — by friction during motion, by oxidation, and by excretion ; and yet, in spite of this, the young animal grows. It is hardly necessary to tell the owner of farm stock that the j)j^ocess of repair in the system of the young growing animal is more active than that of waste, because the fact is evident. He knows that the time will come when the two actions will be about equal ; and, at last, the wasting process will be so active that it will be difficult and not always possible for the repairs to be done fast enough to keep pace with it ; but he does not know, and no one can tell him, the why and wherefore, except by saying that there is more vital energy in the young animal BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 11 than in the adult and the aged; which is very much like reasoning in a circle. In order that young animals may have the full benefit of the power which they possess to appropriate food it is necessary that the amount and kind of aliment which the system requires should be supplied. This very patent fact is not by any means universally admitted, or at least, it is often lost sight of in practice. Young stock, we are sometimes told, can be kept on short allowance until a few months before they are to put up to fatten. The scientific breeder knows very well that there is no economy in such a system. The whole secret of early maturity, of which more anon, lies in taking^ advantag^e of the remark- able aptitude shown by young stock to assimilate food and grow thereby. Selective Power of Tissue. — Tn connection with the function of nutrition as opposed to waste, it is necessary to notice the peculiar power of selection which is present in the tissues, enabling them to take from the blood exactly what they require and reject all that is foreign to their own ^itructure. This quality, which in a single organism would be called an " instinct," is, in regard to its effects, so well known as to pass unnoticed. But its real importance will appear if a moment's thought be devoted to the process. Blood in circalation contains in solution, or in suspen- sion, all the materials which are necessary for the repair of the numerous structures of the body — bone, muscle, fat, tendon, nerve, gland, skin, horn, and hair. No separa- tion of the different compounds which the blood contains ■can be effected in the vessels ; they only form the channels through which the complex fluid flows, and out of which 12 ANIMAL LIFE OX THE FARM. its nutritive part is constantly leaking into the tissues, giving them a choice of various compounds, albuminoids, and fats, living and dead matter, but using no force to compel them to take them, always leaving the tissue to make its own election. Nothing can be more satisfactory than the results of this method of supply ; each structure takes the materials which it wants and leaves what it does not require, to be carried farther on. If, however, by any chance the tissues should lose their selective power or use it perversely, this is what might be expected to happen: — One day the brain, instead of taking proper substances from the blood and using them rightly, might select fats and the elements of white fibre, and so form " a fibrous fatty tumour " in its centre. Some of the bones rejecting proper bony matter might take some of the albuminoids from the blood and construct a fleshy mass in their hard structure, which would be called by the pathologist " osteo sarcoma.'* The luno[s or liver mis^ht choose brain matter and form deposits which would be called from their close resemblance to brain substance " encephaloid tumour." Various struc- tures in the body might show a preference for bony matter, and the bone would crop up in places where it was. least expected, as " ossific deposits." If the reader should be disposed to look upon the above suggestions as merely fanciful and outside the region of possible facts, he is asked to believe that the illustrations- are in no way strained ; the words used express, in truth, exactly what does occur in the animal body when the nutritive functions of certain parts become deranged and the selective power is perverted. Pathologists have long been aware that the elements of diseased deposits may be found in the healthy tissues. BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 13 Yirchow announced the doctrine years ago, tliat in disease no new structures are formed, but existing structures are misplaced ; in short, that the selective functions are per- verted and certain tissues no longer take what is proper to them, but utilise the elements of other structures and suffer disturbance accordicgly. Secreting organs which are employed in separating from the blood which passes through them certain parts, both solids and fluids, for the purpose of expelling them from the system, or of sending them to other parts to assist in the nutritive process, show the power of selection in the highest degree. The liver selects the materials for making bile. The kidneys remove urea with water and certain salts. The salivarj^ glands form saliva, and the perspira- tory glands of the skin select the components of sweat. The blood passing through the different organs contains the materials out of which all or any of the secretions could be formed. It might therefore happen that the kidneys or skin would secrete bile, and the liver or the skin separate urine from the blood ; but the exercise of the power of selection prevents these unpleasant conse- quences while the organism is in a state of health ; but they do happen under certain conditions, and from time to time, " vicarious secretion," as it is called by physiologists, occurs. When one organ — kidney, or liver, for instance — ceases to secrete — in other words, loses its power of selection — then its work is done, not so well, of course, by another organ. Sometimes the relief afforded gives the deranged organ time to recover, and all goes on as before ; but instances have been known of permanent loss of function of the kidneys being compensated by the *' vicarious " action of the skin. 14 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. Organs whicli have to do the work of secretion must really possess a double function of selection, as they have to obtain, from the blood, the materials for their own sup- port, as well as those which form the particular secretion which is to be used for other purposes. For example, the udder is a large organ requiriog a good deal of repair from time to time, having, indeed, a large supply of blood for that purpose ; but while milk is being secreted, a much larger supply of blood is necessary for that special purpose, and the chief function of the organ is not to separate materials for its own support but for the support of its young, which for a time have no other source of food supply. The liver is an organ of large size, having an extensive system of vessels and a large supply of blood, of which onl}'' a very small part is devoted to the support of the gland itself, the bulk of the fluid being sent for the liver to work upon and separate some of its constituents, which must be got rid of before the blood gets back to the heart again. The business of the liver is, in short, to secrete bile, and form a substance which is to be changed into sugar, and to do other things than merely looking after itself. To all the secreting organs of the body the above remarks may be applied. The organs engaged in this work form a large part of the animal, indeed they are so numerous that they can scarcely be counted in the skin and in the mucous membranes of the digestive and respi- ratory organs ; and they are all of them employed in the same useful work of separating noxious matters from the vital fluid, and in aiding in its purification or in select- ing substances which are required for the performance of important duties in various parts of the organism. It is usual in describing the function of a secretin of BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 15 organ to refer to the process of " excretion'' as something which is distinct from the ordinary function of " secretion'' There is, in reality, in a physiological sense, very little dif- ference to be noted. When the materials which are sepa- rated from the blood are thrown off as waste products the process is described as " excretion." This differs from " secretion " only in regard to the final use of the results of the process. Urine, for example, is called an "excretion," because it is thrown off as useless or deleterious matter ; but the kidneys have first to "select" and "separate" from the blood the urea and salts of which urine is com- posed, just as the salivary glands separate the constituents of saliva, which is a fluid having an important work to do in the process of digestion. So far as the inquiry has gone, it appears that the pro- cess by the agency of which the structures of the body are kept in a state of repair is a complicated one ; First, there is the destructive action vrhich gives rise to the necessity for repairs being done, that is to say, waste ; which is the consequence of the burning up of fatty tissue by uuion with oxygen, and the wearing away of structures, which is due to constant motion. Next, there is the supply of what may be called the raw material for repairs — the food, which has to be prepared in the digestive system, and finally assimilated by the tissues in the exercise of their power of selecting what they want and rejecting the rest. In the course of digestion various secretions are used for the purpose of setting up fermentation and thus causing the necessary changes in the compounds on which the animal feeds. Lastly, the waste materials are expelled from the body through the digestive system, the kidneys, the skin and the lungs. 16 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. The preceding sketch of the processes of waste and repair must be supplemented by a description, necessarily a brief one, of the apparatus which is used for the pre- paration and assimilation of the food, and in the almost equally important work of getting rid of the waste pro- ducts ; which cannot be allowed to accumulate without risk of serious damage to the animal machine. CHAPTER 11. ORGAXS OF DIGESTION. The Digestive Organs in the Simple Form — Tj-pe Preserved iu the Higher Animal — Mouth — Salivary Glands — Swallow — Stomacli — Intestine — Liver — Pancreas — Digestion — Food — Digestion in the Moutli — Changes eifected iu the Stomach — Intestinal Digestion — Res.ults — Absorption of Chyle — Action of Mesenteric Glands and Liver — Completion of Digestion in the Lungs. Type of the Digestive Organ. — In its most simple form the digestive system coasists of a tube, which passes quite through the animal body, having an anterior opening or entrance, and a terminal opening or exit. The tube is lined throughout with a secreting membrane, and is pierced here and there by the ducts of certain glandular structures, which send into the digestive tube secretions to aid in the process of digestion. In the higher forms of organisation the digestive tube is more intricate in its arrangement, and the glands in connection with it have a more definite form and function ; but under no circum- stances do the organs depart in any essential particular from this primitive type. The Mouth. — Beginning with the anterior opening, or lijouth, we find in the higher animals a perfect arrange- ment of structures for grasping and cutting or grinding the food. At the entrance of the cavity are the lips. 18 ANIMAL LIFE OX THE FARM. Strong bones form movable jaws wbicb are acted on by powerful muscles. Teeth are set in the jaws in convenient positions to act on the food. Mucous membrane, with numerous glands and follicles, lines the whole cavity, and the centre is occupied by a muscular organ, the tongue, which is usefully employed in moving the mass of food about, keeping it within the range of the teeth, or as- sisting it in its backward course to the opening of the oesophagus. Salivary Apparatus. — In various regions of the cavity of the mouth, but principally at the posterior part, ex- tending from the root of the ear downward, and in the space between the two sides of the lower jaw, and also under the tongue, are placed large glands, in pairs, which secrete the saliva. Those which are situated farthest back are the parotid glands, one on each side. The ducts from these glands pierce the mouth opposite the second upper molar teeth. Underneath the lower jaw are the submaxillary glands, the ducts from which enter the mouth near the tip of the tongue by openings which are well known from the little eminences which guard them (the barbs). Above the submaxillary glands there are placed between some of the muscles of the tongue, the two sublingual glands, which pour their secretion into the mouth through numerous little openings on each side the base of the tongue. Besides the larger salivary glands there are several small glands placed near the roots of the molar teeth, between them and the cheek, and also under the mucous membrane of the lips, the base of the tongue, and the soft palate. ORGANS OF DIGESTIOX. 19 In structure all the salivary glands are alike. They consist of minute lobules of soft spongy tissue, joined together by fine fibres. Their tubes gradually unite to form larger canals through which the saliva enters the mouth. In common with all secreting structures the salivary glands are well supplied with blood. Commencement of the Digestive Tube. — Behind the soft palate there is placed a muscular funnel-shaped pouch, the pharynx, which may be called the beginning of the digestive tube. From this pharynx the tube extends, under the name of the swallow (oesophagus) along the neck, to the entrance of the stomach. And here we have to pause a little in the general description, to point out certain details in regard to the form and structure of this im- portant organ and of the intestine connected with it in the several animals of the farm. Stomach and Intestine. — These organs are composed of three distinct coats — an external one of fibrous tissue, a middle coat of muscle fibres, and a lining of mucous membrane, in and beneath which are placed numerous glands, most of them having free communication with the interior of the digestive tube. It has been stated that the digestive organs in the higher animals preserve the simple type of a single tube ; the difference, in fact, is one of length and bulk. In the animals with which we are chiefly concerned the tube swells out in certain parts to form sacs, and its length necessitates many turns and coils in order to get it into the space which can be conveniently afforded for it in the ■cavity of the abdomen. C.2 20 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. To form the stomacli the digestive tube may be dilated into a single sac, or it may be expanded several times so as to form three or four sacs ; but it is very necessary to note that it is only the single sac, or the last one of the several sacs, which can properly be described as a true digestive stomach, because its mucous lining membrane incloses the peptic glands which secrete the gastric juice. The single stomach in the Horse and Pig is a pouch curved on itself in such a way as to bring the entrance and exit rather near together. The outer curve is called the " greater/' and the inner the " lesser " curvature. In the interior of the stomach of the horse there is a peculiar arrangement of the mucous membrane, the anterior half being smooth and hard, while the posterior half is like velvet, soft to the touch. This portion only is the true gastric membrane which sectetes the gastric juice. Ruminants, like the Ox and Sheep, have the stomach divided into four sacs. First, the paunch or rumen, a very large organ, forming in fact nine-tenths of the whole, occupying a considerable space in the abdominal cavity, chiefly on the left side. Into this large pouch the oeso- phagus enters in such a way that all the food passes into it after being partially masticated, and acccumulates there until the animal feels disposed to return it to the mouth for further preparation. At the upper part of the rumen, and to the right of the entrance of the oesophagus, hangs a small sac, which, in consequence of the peculiar arrange- ment of its lining membrane in a reticulated or net-like form, is called the reticulum or honeycomb. Another small sac, the omasum (or manyplies) is found next to the reticulum on the right side of the rumen. This sac has a very remarkable arrangement of the lining ORGAN'S OF DIGESTION. 21 membrane in folds, or leaves, between which the food must pass in its course to the next compartment of the stomach. . The fourth stomach, abomasum, commonly called the reed or rennet, is larger than the two sacs between it and the rumen : in the sucking ruminant it is the largest of the four, but, as soon as the young animal begins to feed on herbage, the rumen continues to increase in bulk until it attains its full dimensions. In form, the fourth stomach is somewhat like a pear, but is curved slightly on itself, having the larger end towards the omasum. The lining membrane is soft and highly vascular, and is distinguished from the mucous lining of the other sacs by its function of secreting the gastric juice. From the stomach the digestive canal continues as a long tube with many coils. At its commencement it is tolerably uniform in size, and for a great part of its length — about twenty-four yards in the horse and rather more than double that length in the ox — it is called the " small intestine." Afterwards the tube varies in size consider- ably, but is generally larger than the anterior part, and is called the large intestine. The small intestine is suspended from the centre of the abdominal cavity by a fold of membrane, the mesentery? through which its blood-vessels and absorbent vessels reach it. The large intestine is held in its place by a similar arrangement. It is not perhaps a matter of much conse- quence to the reader who is not learned in scientific terms, but it may as well be noted that anatomists divide the small intestine into the duodenum, the jejunum, and the ileum ; and the large intestine into the caecum, colon, and rectum, which is the end of the digestive tube. 22 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FAEISL The Liver and Pancreas — These organs do not form part of the digestive tube, but they are joined to it by the aid of certain small canals or ducts, which convey the secretions from the glands into the intestine. Both liver and pancreas, or sweet-bread, are familiar to most people as articles of food. It is true that the proper sweet-bread is the thymus gland of the calf, commonly called "throat-bread," an organ which becomes "small by degrees and beautifully less " as the animal grows, and is, therefore, in its prime, an expensive article, but the sweet- bread of common life is supplied by the pancreas very often, and failing that by other glands of somewhat similar structure, and of like flavour. The liver is the largest gland in the body, weighing in the horse about twelve pounds ; it is elUptical in shape and is divided by deep fissures into three principal lobes. The gall-bladder, which exists in all farm animals except- ing the horse, is placed on the posterior surface. In its general aspect the liver is not unlike what its name implies, a clot of blood ; the colour is dark red or brown, and the texture is soft ; the surface is everywhere smooth and glistening. The liver occupies a position on the right side of the abdomen, between the stomach and the partition which divides the chest from the abdomen (the diaphragm). It is held in its place by the large vessels which pass into its structure, and by folds of mem- brane which are called its ligaments. Internally the liver has a very perfect system of vessels and ducts for the secretion and conveyance of the bile, which is partly taken into the gall-bladder or directly into the first intestine (duodenum), but in all cases the fluid is ultimately destined to enter that part of the digestive tube. ORGANS OF DIGESTION. 23 The pancreas is placed in front of the kidneys, and its duct enters the first intestine with that of the liver by a common opening. In structure the pancreas is like the salivary glands, consisting of minute masses of soft spongy material joined together by fine fibrous tissue. The pancreatic fluid is in many respects allied to the saliva which is formed by the salivary glands. In regard to the different forms of the digestive appar- atus it may be presumed that the reader will not feel any great difficulty in understanding the very condensed description which has been given. The uses for which the different parts are required will appear as we proceed to discuss the changes which the food undergoes during the process of " digestion." Food — With the " Handbook on the Chemistry of the Farm" * before him, the writer feels that he is relieved from the necessity of entering into the subject of the con- stituents of food — further, at least, than is required to explain the relation of the different kinds of aliment to the tissues of the animal body. To supply the loss of structure which is an inevitable consequence of motion and oxidation, animals require a certain quantity of albuminoids, fats, carbo-hydrates, and mineral matters. A peculiar class of compounds known to the chemist as "amides" are consumed by animals which feed on plants. But it is not necessary to say much about amides, because it is quite hopeless to expect the reader to grasp the subject. " Amides" are, in short, compounds which are formed when part of the hydrogen * By R. Wariiigton, F.C.S. Bradbury, Agnew, k Co. 24 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FAEM. of ammonia is substituted by a metal or an acid. They are, therefore, nitrogenous compounds, but they play no part in the repairing of nitrogenous tissues of animals, and can only be used as fuel for combustion. Their nitrogen is finally excreted as urea. As animals cannot support life without food which consists of the tissues of living beings — animals or plants — it follows that food must be derived from those two kingdoms. Albuminoids, fats, and carbo-hydrates do not differ materially in the animal and plant w^orld ; and in selecting the kind of food with which an animal is to be supplied the origin of the aliment is of less moment than the habits of the animal to be fed. A dog can learn to live on vegetable albumen, fat, and starch : the animal's in- stincts, however, would lead it to select animal flesh and fat. In the same way a horse could be sustained on animal food, but the digestive organs are better fitted for the reception of vegetable ahment. Beside the solid constituents of food which are required to compensate the w^aste of the tissue, a large quantity of fluid is an essential addition to the food. Something like four-fifths of the animal body are made up of water. Even after deducting the contents of the stomach and intestines the proportion is above three-fifths ; and this ratio is kept up by the amount of water which exists in food, even dry food, and by the actual drinking of the fluid to which the animal is urged under the influence of thirst. On the important matter of food in relation to the con- stituents of the animal body the reader is advised to turn to the " Chemistry of the Farm " (chapters vi. to ix. inclu- sive) before proceeding to follow the present writer in the ORGANS OF DIGESTION. 25 attempt to describe the changes which food undergoes in various parts of the digestive system. Digestion in the Month. — Animals have various ways of seizing their food in order to get it into the mouth, where it will be brought under the action of the teeth and cut or ground into sufficiently small portions. The dog grasps its food with the fore paws and tears off a portion, which is swallowed after very slight mastication. Horses use their lips to grasp the herbage or collect the corn or other food into a mass, which is then seized between the nippers, and by the aid of the tongue carried into the mouth and brought under the action of the molar teeth. The ox uses its tongue to bring the food into a con- venient position for cutting it oft' by the incisor teeth with their chisel-like edges ; and the sheep employs the divided upper lip for the same purpose. The pig uses its snout to root up favourite morsels out of the ground, or grasps it at once between its jaws, making meanwhile a characteristic noise. In the cavity of the mouth the food is submitted to the process of cutting up or grinding (mastication), and mixing with the fluids of the mouth, chiefly saliva (insalivation). Mastication is a purely mechanical process, which is con- ducted by the agency of the muscles attached to the jaws. Animals which feed on flesh do not chew the food long, but after a few sharp bites, which serve to cut the morsel into small pieces, it is conveyed into the stomach. Herb and grain feeders grind their food into a paste, and during this action the saliva secreted by the salivary glands, and the mucus from the numerous mucous glands in the mouth, is 26 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. mixed with the mass, rendering it soft and putting it in a state to pass readily down the swallow into the stomach. Insalivation. — Saliva is a clear fluid, of alkaline re- action, containing rather less than one per cent, of solid matter, consisting of certain forms of albuminous matters called mucin, albumin, globulin, and ptyalin, which is a diastatic ferment. Therefore, besides softening the food, saliva sets up fermentation, which results in the changing of starch into grape sugar while mastication is going on, as can be proved by the simple experiment of chewing a little starch, or even mixing it with saliva, and then applying the necessary tests, it will be found that the ordinary test for starch no longer reacts, while the sugar tests give characteristic results. After the process of digestion in the mouth has been carried far enough, the mass of food is pressed back into the pharynx by the action of the tongue, aided by the muscles of the cheeks. From the pharynx it passes into the upper part of the oesophagus, and, being grasped by the muscular walls of that tube, is quickly carried into the stomach. Digestion in the Stomach. — To understand the changes which take place when the mass of softened food reaches the stomach it must be borne in mind that no alteration has yet been effected in the albuminoids or fats, that a good deal of the starch still remains unchanged, and also that the whole mass is alkaline. In the stomach the food comes in contact wdth the gastric juice, which is a perfectly clear fluid, acid in re- OEGANS OF DIGESTION. 27 action, being, in fact, a solution of pepsin with hydro- chloric acid and some salts. The chief action of the gastric juice is on the albumin- oids, which are in some Avay rendered soluble and capable of passing through moist membranes. In this state they are called peptones. The pepsin, which effects the changes, is neither increased nor diminished during the process. When carbo-hydrates are being digested in the stomach lactic acid is formed. Food remains in the stomach for some time ; and in consequence of the constant churning motions of the organ, which are produced by the action of its muscular coat, it may be suj)posed that every portion of the mass of food is at different times brought in contact with the gastric fluids. digestion in the Stomach in Ruminants. — What has been stated in regard to the changes of the food in the stomach refers to the single stomach of the horse or pig, or to the fourth sac of the stomach of the ruminant. In the rumen, reticulum, and omasum no chemical changes in the albuminoids occur, but the food in these sacs is sub- mitted to a process somewhat allied to cooking ; and con- sequently ruminants can appropriate a larger proportion of vegetable fibre than animals with single stomachs can.* Rumination. — When enough food has been masticated and swallowed to fill the rumen, the animal rests for a time and ruminates. By the action of the muscular walls and strong muscular bands of the rumen portions of food * See "Chemistry of the Farm," chapter vii. Bradbury, Agnew, k Co, 28 ANIMAL LIFE OX THE FARM. are forced into the oesophagus and carried into the mouth, where thev are ao^ain and acrain masticated and mixed with sahva, which fluid is secreted in enormous quantities. The combined results of these processes are the continu- ance of fermentation, which converts starch into sugar, and the perfect breaking up and softening of the vegetable iibre. Wlien a portion of food has been re -masticated it is again swallowed, but its destination is not quite a matter of certainty. The general idea is that it passes into the reticulum and thence through the omasum into the fourth stomach. There is, however, some reason to believe that evervthing which passes down the oesophagus goes into the rumen, afterwards o^ettiuor to the other stomachs. It is not, from a practical point of view, of much consequence which of the two views is the correct one. The food does, after a long time and repeated mastication^ pass into the second, third, and ultimately into the fourth stomach, where it meets with the gastric juice, which converts the albuminoids into j)eptones, as before explained. The pro- duct of digestion in the stomach is chyme, which is the result of chemical actions to which the food is subjected while in that organ. Digestion in the Intestine In the first intestine the food again meets with alkaline secretions. There are the secretion from the folKcles of the mucous membrane, the pancreatic fluid, and the bile. Experiments in the labora- tory lead to the conclusion that the pancreatic fluid con- tains at least three kinds of ferments, one of which acts as a diastatic ferment and converts any starch which still remains in the mass into susrar ; another, which acts on ORGANS OF DIGESTION. 29 albuminoids and changes them into peptones ; and a third, which emulsionises fats. Bile acts to a great extent as an antiseptic, and probablv also assists in the solution of the large mass of epithelial cells which are displaced from the little tufts (villi) of the small intestines. It also acts in a peculiar way on the mucous membrane, and renders it permeable to the fatty matters. In the fii'st intestine the preparation of the food may be said to be completed by the formation of chyle, in which all the nutritive parts of the aliment are contained. Absorption of Chyle. — For the rest of its course through the intestine the food does not appear to suffer much change in its chemical composition. The principal thinof remaining: to be done is the removal of the nutritive parts from the mass of waste matters with which they are i\ssociated. This is effected by the small blood vessels of the mucous membrane (capillaries), which take up all the - the enemy, because his patient succumbs at the outset ; and it has got to be a proverb on the farm that the " butcher is the best doctor." So much for the system of artificial selection in breeding. If the system of breeding by artificial selection is open to question, what is to be said about the system of arti- ficial feeding ? Food fulfils its purpose when it supplies the animal organism with material for the repair of its tissues, and sustains the structures in a normal condition ; but in domestication the feeder of stock determines to what extent this object shall be carried out ; and in regard to one class of animal on the farm — the horse— he is ready to do the best he can to keep the animal in a state of health and vigour, in order to use his powers for his work or pleasure. The horse has the advantage of being supplied, so far as his master's judgment goes, with food which is calculated to support his system and maintain it in a healthy state ; 96 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. and generally this animal on the farm is placed under the most favourable circumstances which domestication affords for the preservation of his health and soundness. All the animals of the farm, excepting the horse, are fed with some special object, which is first. Their vigour, muscular force, powers of endurance, and strength of con- stitution, occupy the second place, even in the rare event of being allowed to enter into the calculation at all. In the next chapter the subject of feeding for early maturity at all hazards is dealt with in regard to details, and at the risk to the writer of acquiring the reputation of being somewhat '' crotchety " on the point. A distinguished pathologist lately remarked that he had a high opinion of the value to society of a man wdth a "crotchet," "because," he said, "there is always a good deal in it ; " and the idea, whatever it may be, is thrust forward so persistently and dragged into every discussion with so much enthusiasm, and every fact is so tremendously exaggerated, that people at length begin to believe a part ; a,nd finally the process of inquiry goes on, and it is found that the crotchet really has something in it worth more attention than it has had given to it. The author does not mind if the stock-owner will consent to deal with his " crotchet " in the way just suggested. On the sure ground of observation and experience he ventures to assert that there is " something in it." But it may be asked, if there is something in it, what is to be done? Is" the whole system of artificial selection to be abandoned ? Is early maturity a superstition to be discouraged ? These queries are worth a chapter to themselves, in which the waiter hopes to show how to do wrong, within reasonable limits, without having to pay all the penalty. CHAPTER VIII. EARLY MATURITY OF LIVE STOCK. Practice in Breeding and Feeding Live Stock on the Farm — Breeding for Early- Maturity — Inherited Capacity for Laying on Fat — Rest a Condition of Fattening — Exercise necessary for Formation of Muscle — ' ' Baby Beef " and Mutton — Modified form of Muscle in Fat Animals — In the Artificial System of Feeding the conditions favour the deposit of Fat — Statement of Results — Breeding Pedigree Stock not a Part of Agriculture. Practice versus Science. — A promise was given in the last chapter that every-day matters of farm life should have their share of attention in this one. The promise is not forgotten. But, before it is fulfilled, it may be worth while to devote a few minutes to the subjects which have been dealt with in the preceding chapters. The theme of this chapter is in reality practice, not with science, but against it ; and before we turn our backs on scientific teaching and discuss a system of breeding and feeding " totally at variance with Nature," let us pay science the compliment of a parting glance, and even pause to listen to a few last words. " The whole Story shortly told." — At the commence- ment science had something to say on the mysteries of Iiife and Death in the animal and plant worlds. Then she showed us how a mass of transparent jelly (bioplasm) lives and performs all the essential vital actions. Next w^e were told how a single living mass, of extreme small- 98 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. ness, in the mature ovum of the higher animal, becomes, under certain conditions — contact with the sperm-cell of the male being one of them — the centre in which curious things happen. The single living mass divides into many- portions, forming a cluster of cells which arrange themselves in perfect order, and end by becoming bones, flesh, fat, blood, heart, lungs, stomach, and intestines, and in short everything which goes to make up an animal. Science, having told us how the animal is developed out of a small particle of living substance, went on to speak of the structures and uses of the organism. We saw that the animal grows and moves; that it eats and drinks, and keeps warm, even in cold weather. Further, it was made clear that animals excrete waste products without getting any less — it may be getting bigger meanwhile ; and we were led to inquire into the details of the various processes by which loss of structure is supplied by new matter — old and worn-out tissues are got rid of — heat is kept up ; and the body is maintained in a state of balance. This inquiry brought to our notice several organs which are engaged in doing special work ; each seemingly being entirely occupied with its own concerns, but in reality working in concert with the rest : the digestive, circulatory, breathing, absorbing, and excreting organs, all acting with a common object under the direction of the nerve organs. By the action of the digestive organs the food is reduced to a condition which fits it for nutrition. The absorbent vessels take up the dissolved and prepared constituents and convey them into the blood stream. By the aid of the heart, which pumps the blood through the vessels over the body and back again, the nutritive elements of the food are brought in contact with the tissues ; which, in the EARLY MATURITY OF LIVE STOCK. 99 exercise of their wonderful power of selection, take what they require for their own support and leave the rest. The breathing organs are constantly employed in getting a supply of fresh air at short intervals; and, during the cir- culation of the blood through them, some of the all- important oxygen of the air is taken up by that fluid and carried into the tissues, where it unites with carbon and hydrogen, and sets up combustion, the results being heat, carbonic acid, and water. Waste or effete matters, including the products of com- bustion, must be removed from the organism : they are not merely useless but poisonous, and accordingly we find that a very complete arrangement of excretory organs exists for their removal. First there is the great main-drain, the intestinal canal : through Avhich passes all the undigested or unused food, mixed with broken -up cells from the mucous membrane ; and the excess of fluids secreted by the numerous glands which open into the canal. This mass of effete matter in the form of manure represents to the farmer a considerable proportion of the value of the food which has supplied nutriment to the animals ; and is now to become the food of plants. Waste matters which are soluble are got rid of by the aid of the kidneys, in the form of urine, and by the skin, with its vast system of sweat-glands ; while the lungs and the skin together excrete carbonic acid and all organic impurities which assume the gaseous form. Looking at the animal fully formed and in a state of perfect balance, we saw all the functions of life in action : — the bony frame -work supporting the soft textures, or forming boundaries of cavities to enclose them ; muscles acting in obedience to the will, or under the stimulus of H 2 100 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. the excito-motor nerves ; the heart beating with suffi- cient force to send the blood its destined round; the lungs expanding to let in the air which is to carry new life to the elements of the tissues ; heat being eliminated to be resolved into force ; wasted textures rebuilt with the pro- ducts of digested food, and the old matters swept away to make room for the new — all the machinery self-acting, working smoothly day and night, in perfect accord with the external conditions, showing no sign that it was ever meant to stop. But, " Alas ! for the life that lives but a year, or a month, or a day," we soon saw that continuance of existence means continued correspondence with life's surroundings, which are always changing, and often taking the form of "adverse influences." Our "bird's-eye" view of animal life under two very different sets of conditions forced us to accept the fact, that in Nature everything tends to the benefit of the stroDg and the extinction of the weak. The sentence is, Fall out of "correspondence with your environment," and die ; " if life is worth having, fight for it." The outcome of this stern system is perfection of organisation and perfect life. On the other side of the picture we saw the animal under the ban of civilisation, having nothing to fight about, — no life worth speaking of to struggle for ; compelled to take the food provided for it, with as much fresh air as might be thought good for it ; " cabined, cribbed, confined," — a meat-making and manure-forming machine; "a tub wdth a hole in the bottom," (these are the very words of a practical breeder and feeder of stock,) — " a tub with a hole in the bottom," which must be filled up by pouring into it (|uickly, because "the quicker you pour in, the less the waste." With this maxim for a text EARLY MATURITY OF LIVE STOCK. 101 there is nothing to prevent us from at once plunging into the practical part of our subject. Principles of Breeding for Early Maturity. — It is well to start with a clear idea of the object which the breeder of farm stock has in view, and perhaps it may be sufficiently indicated in the two words " Early Maturity." The breeder's aim is, and has long been, the production of a race of animals with an inherited capacity for assimi- lating food at an early age and under artificial conditions of existence. Mr. Henry Evershed, in his pamphlet on Early Maturity of Live Stock,* which every farmer should read, tells us that in 1878 he contributed a paper to the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, in which he gave the first published account of the production of what was then called "hahy heefV^ We put the words in italics, as they are worth marking ; and if we add the terms "bahy oviU- ton," the two will fairly express the real aim of the forcing system, the results of which, stated as plainly as Mr. Ever- shed states them, amount to this : — " Remarkably ripe, handsome carcases of beef from bullocks under twenty months old; lambs sold as mutton at seven and ten months old," of which the butcher writes, — "Never, during my experience of over forty years, have I had any sheep equal to them in weight,' quality, and flesh at their age." These specimens of '' premature maturity " were manu- factured according to an improved method ; and to obtain the like results the same lines must be laid down and fol- * "The Early Maturity of Live Stock." By Henry Evershed. London : Horace Cox, Field Office, Strand, W.C. . 102 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. lowed. To begia with, Mr. Everslied remarks, — *'' It is the general experience that breeding from ewe lambs induces early maturity." It is only an extension of the principle to add "heifer calves" and "sucking pigs," to complete the series of " baby parents " from which are to come the baby beef, mutton, and pork of the future. In defence of the system of breeding from immature parents, in order to dev elope a tendency to early maturity in the offspring, the writer whose words we have quoted urges, " That, in pursuing a system of breeding totally at variance with Nature, in which natural selection is re- placed by that which is artificial, and unaccompanied by any struggle for existence, we must be guided by facts rather than by theory.'' Again we introduce italics w^hich are not in the original. Facts by all means let us have ; not only the facts of " baby beef" at twenty months, and ^'baby mutton" at seven months, but those more grave facts which it is the province of the pathologist to observe and record. After all, from the point of viev/ of the breeder for " early maturity," there is perfect consistency in the idea of breeding from young animals, the best specimens of which are sure to be selected ; those which exhibit in themselves the precocity which is to be encouraged. Scientists are well aware that the most certain way to secure the development of an}' artificial instinct or quality is to breed from parents in which the instinct or quality is apparent. " Like produces like," is the practical breeder's sure maxim. Mr. Huxley, on the side of science, expands the maxim in these words, to which we shall have to refer more than once before we finish this subject : — " The one end to which, in all living beings, the formative impulse is EAELY MATURITY OF LIVE STOCK. 103 tending — the one scheme which the Archaeus of the old speculators strives to carry out — seems to be to mould the offspring into the likeness of the parent. It is the first great law of reproduction, that the offspring tends to resemble its parent or parents more than anything else : " i.e. resemble them in structure and functions — in good or bad qualities — in excellencies or defects. And with the meaning fully grasped, this sentence is an epitome of the science and art of breeding. Precocious parentage is a phase of artificial selection which is yet in its infancy, and it is well to remember that there are two sides to the picture, one of which has been exhibited, and the other turned to the w^all. Great things have been done, we are told, by breeding from ewe lambs, but the flock-masters on the Hampshire Hills find that the tender mothers cannot stand the exposure ; and in the circumstances it answers better to use ram lambs to older ewes. Only when special care can be taken to protect the mothers does it answer to use young parents of both sexes; and it seems to be admitted that when ewe lambs are used for breeding, they do not afterwards acquire their full growth. It yet remains to be seen how far this system can be carried in breeding farm-stock with the view to early maturity, that being at present the only point with which we are concerned. Feeding for Early Maturity. — Having started fairly by selecting precocious parents, the next thing is to push on the progeny without a moment's loss. The old- fashioned system of letting the mother take care of her young is an " exploded error." To make " baby beef" the calves must be weaned at birth, because they more readily 104 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. adapt themselves to an artificial system of feeding. It is, however, admitted that calves are most successfully managed when they are allowed new milk for several weeks, at the rate of four to eight quarts per day up to a month old ; afterwards skimmed milk with boiled linseed or meal is substituted. Hay is given as soon as the animals can be induced to eat it, and, in addition, a pound of lin- seed cake daily, in order to ''develope the first stomach." In winter, root-feeding commences with an increased allow- ance of cake, which is continued until the animal is ready for the butcher at twenty months. A somewhat different system of feeding calves for early maturity was referred to by a writer in the Field in December, 1884. " The calves were allowed to suck their dams until the cows were again close at calving, i.e., about eleven months. This kept the cows in rather lean con- dition, but it made a grand job of the calves. At the age of eleven or twelve months they were not only big stock, but very fat — not veal, but the firmest of beef. Than last year's crop of twenty-five, the writer hereof never saw so pretty a lot — so ripe at the age. The calves shared with their dams the summer keep of good grass, and the winter fare of meadow hay, roots, straw, cake, and grain. To make way for the newly dropped calves, the yearlings were sold to the butcher at from £20 to £24 a head, representing nearly £2 per head per month's keep. The dairy produce of the cows, so near a town, might have approached that figure ; but there would have been much more labour and attention to details involved." This is a form of the forcing system which is not quite so much " at variance with Nature." It is, however, at variance with the typical method which Mr. Evershed thus describes : — " A calf well EARLY MATURIIT OF LIVE STOCK. 105 reared is a long way on the road to baby-beeihood. I shall only add, that calves must lie dry and warm, in well ventilated sheds (which in summer should be cool), in lots not exceeding half-a-score, so as to avoid the diseased lungs or other evils which arise from their lying in heaps one on another, and inhaling each other's breath. If good cool pastures are available, the calves will probably be allowed to run in them in summer, and cut their own green-meat ; but, in order to attain the earliest possible maturity, they must not quit their sheds summer or winter, remaining indoors placid and undisturbed." In proof of the success of this plan, in its financial aspect at least, it is related that " an experiment was tried in Sussex in comparing two lots of calves, one of which remained in the sheds, while the other was summered in the pastures, the ' corn ' in each case being alike ; and the former lot was worth 30s. per calf more than the latter, which considerably exceeds the cost of laboiu' in feediog them." It is obvious that the indoor system allows of the culti- vation of baby beef in a vsmaller space than would be required for pasture feeding, and in this respect it has an advantage. Nutrition under the Forcing System. — At this point the author is conscious that the intention of turning his back on vscience with which he began this chapter is going the way of all good intentions, and there is no help for it. A little physiology must come in to help him in solving some of the problems which are now to be set and worked out. Under any system of feeding, natural or artilicial, the 106 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. food supplied mast consist of nitrogenous and non-nitro- genous compounds, or as the common, but not strictly accurate expression runs, "flesh forming" and "fattening constituents." We have seen that for the purposes of respiration, that is say, for combustion, maintenance of heat and force, the animal body requires a much larger proportion of carbo-hydrates and fats than of albuminoids, or flesh formers ; an excess of these being always wasteful in the animal economy, because they are either unused and expelled as manure, or burnt up and made, so far, to play the part of the non-nitrogenous foods. It does not, however, follow that what is wasteful in the organism is really wasted ; on the contrary, it is often a part of the feeder's aim to supply more nitrogenous food than the animal requires, in order that it maybe expelled after passing- through the digestive canal, and in its course undergoing a series of changes which render it specially fit for the food of plants. There are, in fact, three things to be thought of in feeding animals for early maturity — flesh, fat, and manure. Laying on Flesh and Fat. — It is a popular belief — not, perhaps, put in any form of words, but clearly shown in the current practice — that in order to induce " laying on of flesh," an extra allowance of nitrogenous food must be given, while for fattening a larger proportion of oils and fats are necessary. This notion is supported by the common sense of mankind ; but the physiologist feels bound to interpose a proviso. Besides the food elements, he remarks, there are certain conditions which influence the nutritive process. The animal is not quite a "tub" to be filled with anything which may be selected. It is true that food may be supplied of any kind, and in EARLY MATURITY OF LIVE STOCK. 107 quantities which the feeder may deem sufficient for the production of flesh and fat in due proportion. It can, indeed, be calculated, how much albuminoids, carbo- hydrates, and fat will be required every day to supply the waste of tissue ; but it must not be forgotten that to get the food into the diofestive ors^aus is one thinof, to insure that it shall be used in accordance with our intentions is another. With all the success which we have gained in the culti- vation of artificial qualities in our live-stock we have not yet got a race of animals which will lay on fat or flesh to order in exact proportion to the materials supplied in the form of food. Nature seems to make a firm stand here ; and we shall best attain our object by paying a little attention to what she tells us about the conditions which affect the growth of these structures. First, it is a law of Nature that the full measure of perfection can only be reached by any organ when its functions are called into exercise ; and it is a fact within •everybody's knowledge that the muscle organs are only to be improved and developed by regulated and constant use. The athlete can so order his mode of training as to cause one set of muscles or many to improve in size and power, and every trainer is aware that the one thing needful for bringing out the muscles of horse or man is exertion pro- perly and carefully regulated, but never omitted. Suggest to the trainer that he can get a lame horse into muscular form by the use of flesh-forming food, or tell the disabled ^' oar " that his biceps will come out grandly on the day of -the race if he will only keep his arm in a sling, and feed chiefly on albuminoids, with only a small proportion of fats and carbo-hydrates, and each will obey Dogberr^^'s 108 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FAEM. injiuiction to the letter, and " write you down an ass." But in truth the most asinine of asses would never dream of making such suggestionsin regard to horse orman. It is only when food animals are in question that the most sapient of us will talk about feeding to make flesh in the case of stock which "in order to attain the earliest possible maturity must not quit their sheds summer nor winter ; but remain indoors, placid and undisturbed/' Are we not all of us perfectly sure that in such circumstances growth of muscle is impossible, however abundant maybe the supply of flesh-forming food ? To all that has just been written about muscle growth, the reader may be supposed to object that we do not want to eat muscle — a hard, stringy, indigestible structure, not flt for civilised stomachs, but only proper to the limbs of race-horses, hunters, and athletes. We want tender juicy meat. And there is really something in the objection. We are most of us so accustomed to take our food in a state which renders mastication a mere matter of form, that if by chance we are brought in contact with a slice of real flesh from a six-year-old working ox — a steak which would delight the soul of a railway navvy, and give him "something to bite at" — and, we may add, good solid material to repair his muscles withal — we should decline to make our jaws ache, and risk the integrity of our feeble apologies for teeth — becoming more and more feeble in each succeeding generation, the dentists say — by engaging in the unequal contest. In the estimation of the physiologist, muscle is flesh and nothing else ; but we are fain to admit that the system of feeding for early maturity has introduced a new structure unrecognised by histologists, but most fitly called " baby EARLY MATURITY OF LIVE STOCK. 109 meat " — a soft juicy mixture of fat and lean — by the eating of which we hope to produce large and strong muscles in our own bodies and limbs. Hope does, indeed, "tell a flattering tale." Now the question arises, Can the " lean meat " — which we will no more call muscle — be increased in amount by any modification of the method of feeding ? The answer can only be got from observation ; and it is fortunate that the experiments at E-othamsted and in Germany have done much towards the solution of the riddle. Even when an animal is at rest muscular action con- tinues, and the muscles which are to be made into meat have to perform some work in breathing, in sustaining the body, in raising it, and in moving it from one part of a shed to another, if no more space is available to move in. In its least active state muscle is in the condition of *' tonus," which is contraction ; and therefore waste of its tissue is caused, and new material has to be supplied for its repair. Carbo-hydrates are largely required for this pur- pose, and some albuminoids ; but it is impossible to blind ourselves to the fact that in fattening animals a very insignificant proportion of nitrogen is retained in the system, something like 96 per cent, being voided in solid and liquid manure. It would be premature to assert that there are no means of feeding for the production of a modified muscular tissue — or lean meat — in animals which do not undergo exertion ; but, at present, we must be content to admit that the fatty constituents of the food have it all their own way, and that the great in- crease of the bulk of the carcase in fattening stock is due to the deposit of fat, not flesh. One fact, which is very well known but often lost sight 110 ANIMAL LIFE OX THE FARM. of in discussing systems of feeding, tells very decidedly against the idea that lean meat may be grown more liberally by the use of a larger proportion of flesh-forming food. The fact is that the food which is generally used for fattening- — oil cake — is rich in flesh-forminor sub- stances. Linseed cake contains more than double the amount of albuminoids which exists in oats ; and, judging from its chemical composition, it might be employed in training race-horses. Given to fattening oxen, however, it has the effect of adding to the amount of fat, for the deposition of Avhich all the conditions of the animal's existence are favourable. On a small scale, the "struggle for existence" occurs in the animal organism, between the two constituents of the daily food — the fats and flesh-formers. The fats are often in the minority, but that does not help the others. Fats find in the inactive state of the organism the occasion which suits them. Anything like action, quick breathing, rapid circulation, or strong muscular contraction, implies a large supply of oxygen, which is the natural enemy of fat — resolving it into heat, carbonic acid, and water. But rest, slow movement of the blood, sluggish breath- ing — with no more oxygen than is actually wanted to sustain a placid life — are exactly the conditions which favour the increase of fatty tissue. In the circumstances above described the flesh-formers are not much w^anted, and therefore are not much em- ployed. The little waste which has been going on in the scarcely used muscles is soon repaired, and then the sooner they are out of the way the better. And it is the duty of the excretory organs to see that they do not stop to block the way. EARLY MATURITY OF LIVE STOCK. Ill Outside the organism there is useful work for the rejected nitrogen in supplying food for plants ; within the system it is at best useless and often injurious. Statement of Results — On behalf of the system of breeding and feeding for early maturity, for the market or the show-yard, the evidence, concisely stated, amounts to this :— "Ten or twelve years ago the 'cracks' of the shows were always three years old, and sometimes older; now they are one year younger." Stirks may be kept steadily growing at the rate of 2h lbs. per da}^ until at 20 months they reach the weight of 850 lbs. to 920 lbs : the dietary meanwhile being most liberal — including the milk which they suck for the first five or six months, grass, turnips, oat straw, daily allowance of cake, 2 lbs. to 5 lbs., with crushed grain added later on. " Young animals, as everybody knows, feed better than old ones. The difference in food is very marked. Up to two years old the increase in weight may be on the average 2 lb. per day. Between two years and three years it amounts to a little over a pound per day, and in the course of the next year not more than half a pound of daily increase may be expected, according to American and English ex- perience." The increase of weight is mainly due to the deposit of fat. The means of producing lean oneat on the " early maturity " system not yet having been dis- covered. Beyond the results stated, which seem finally to consist in making young animals big and very fat for the butcher or the fat stock show, has anything been gained ? Surely^ we may suppose breeders of pedigree stock to reply — much 112 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. more Las been gained. Look at our improved breeds, oiir Booths and Bates. What prices our bulls and heifers command at home and abroad ! Exactly, but what makes a Duchess heifer worth a thousand pounds to an English or American stock owner ? Precisely what makes a race- borse worth the same amount. The belief on the part of the purchaser that the animal and its offspring will win several thousands in stakes. Value in these cases is ■determined by fashion set, by-the-bye, not in Paris, but in New York. First, we have the " newest thing " in short- horns for the rage. Then Herefords come to the front ; ■and now black polled cattle have their day. All this may be called speculation, or gambling, or anything else. It may amuse and help to pass away " the flagging hours " •of this " unendurably long life." But Avhat we want to insist on, most emphatically, is that the system has nothing to do with agriculture. And until it is shown that the -effect of breeding pedigree stock is evident in the wide distribution of breeds of food-producing animals which are strong of constitution, capable of resisting disease, and above all of making good healthy meat in an economical way, it never will form a legitimate part of the Science -and Practice of farming. CHAPTER IX. WHAT TS TO BE DONE 1 Criticism on the " Show System " — Exhibition of Breeding Stock — Fat Stock Shows — Unprofitable Feeding — Possible States of the Animal Organism — Balance — Elaboration — Degeneration — Things which can be done — Breed- ing for Maturity— Necessity for Maturity and Soundness in Stock Animals — Management of Breeding Stock — Feeding for the Butcher — Proposed Modification of the Present System of Breeding and Feeding — Science and Practice in the Laboratory and on the Farm. The author began the last chapter with the perfectly honest idea of setting out the details of the "improved methods of breediDcr and feeding^ " in the most favourable light ; but in looking over what he has written, he is con- scious that the reader may finish with the notion that somehow everybody seems to have got wrong ; and, if he is a visitor to the OTeat asrricultural exhibitions of stock at w^hich the results of breeding and feeding are supposed to be seen at their best, he will ask if some account should not be taken of these grand gatherings, which are said to exercise so powerful an influence for good in agriculture. Well, something may be said on the matter, and it shall be said by practical men. This is what a writer in the Field recently said of the show system : — • " It may be stated that the fundamental principle of an agricultural society, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, is the show system. For now forty years at least — a period which covers the rise and progress of the majo- I 114 ANIMAL LIFE OX THE FAEM. I'ity of such associations — the popular idea has certainly been that an agricultural society exists mainly, if not entirely, for the purpose of promoting an annual show. This idea became intensified after the exhibition of 1851, •when what misfht be termed the 'show mania' commenced. If, however, we look back a little, it will be found that the earlier promoters of associations for the improvement of agriculture had far more comprehensive ideas. It is only needful, for instance, to refer to Mr. Pusey's famous mani- festo at the inauguration of the Royal Agricultural Society at Oxford on March 13, 1839, to see that in his mind at any rate the idea of a gigantic show was not present. His conception of the work of such a society as was then being started was rather that of a scientific organisation, similar to those already in existence in connection with botany, geology, and so forth. ' The collection of numerous minute facts by individual observers over a large surface ' was evidently what he considered the primary work of a na- tional society. But his mental attitude was one of recep- tiveness, and he concluded his address in these words : ' How we may best combine and order the separate efforts of our individual members — on the details of whose exer- tions, duly combined, in the various paths of our diversified art, to a common end, and carefully and honestly made known to our body, our slow but steady progress will mainly depend — must form the future subject of our com- mon coDsideration.' Doubtless much work of the desirable character thus indicated has been carried out by the Royal Agricultural Society during its half century of life ; but the overwhelming importance which has been attained by its annual exhibitions is rather indicative that the ' com- mon consideration ' of the society has not chiefly WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 115 been given in the direction pointed out by Mr. Pusey. " Let us, however, see to what extent the R. A. S. E. has to depend for the justification of its existence upon the show system. On reference to last year's cash account it will be found that, exclusive of the expenses of establish- ment and sundries, the society spent during 1884 the sum of £26,859 6s. M. Of this £22,285 Is. lOd. was expended on country-meeting accounts, in other words, on one or other of the shows. The remainder, £'4574 4.s. lie?, was spent on the Journal (which swallowed up rather more than half the amount), the chemical, veterinary, botanical, and educational departments, and on the inspection of farms. Thus five-sixths of the total expenditure went to the show. Take, once more, the Royal Society's nearest rival, the Bath and West of England Society. In its balance-sheet for last year I find, again excluding esta- blishment expenses, a sum of £6332 13s. Sd. spent upon the show account, and no expenditure upon any other object whatever, except the comparatively paltry sum of £435 7s. 7d. upon the Journal. " It would be unfair likewise to omit reference in con- nection with the Bath and West of England Society to the action taken by that society during the current year. In March last, at one of its council meetings, Mr. Knollys brought forward the followinof remarkable motion : — ' That a special committee be appointed to consider whether the present expenditure of the funds of the society is that which is best calculated to promote the interests of agri- culture.' This motion was remarkable in that it admitted the possibility of discussing even the sacred show system itself. As a matter of fact, I have reason to believe that I 2 116 AXIMAL LIFE OX THE FARM. it did result iu a discussion upon the desirability of re- ducing the amount offered in prizes for stock. But for such a daring step the times were not yet ripe." To the author's own knowledge these views have been in some form entertained, and in words more or less defi- nitely expressed for some years past, by practical and representative agriculturists. Never better expressed, however, than in the words of Mr. Knollys' motion ; and, if these words were echoed throughout the land, it is pos- sible that the interests of agriculture might be looked at from a new point of view. Agricultural shows are generally understood to be exhibitions of animals for breeding purpose. Exhibitions of fat stock have their place, however, in the show system, and are presumably conducted also on the principle of aiding the interests of agi'iculture. A primary object of fat stock shows, we are told on high authority (the late Sir Brandreth Gibbs), is "to de- termine what breeds of animals and raethods of feeding are calculated to yield most food for man from given quantities of food for live stock " — a perfectly proper object to aim at, but one which, asking the pardon of all promoters of fat stock shows, has never had the least effect on the practice of breeding and feeding. If promoters of fat stock shows meant what they say, they would never allow a prize to be awarded until the judges had seen the selected animals cut into joints by the butcher. That the main object, that of producing food of the best kind for man, has not been kept in view — to say nothing' of having been gained — is the conclusion, not of the man of science, but of the practical farmer. Writing in this present year of grace, 1885, Mr. Evershed, as the exponent WHAT IS TO BE LOXE ? 117 of practice as opposed to theory, says, under the heading of Flesh versus Fat : — " Another point awaiting decision is the kind of food to be given to the young animals. Unfortunately, our fat stock shows do not assist the solution of this most important problem, since their prizes encourage outside appearance, size, and weight, without regard to the quality of the carcase. They do not encourage breeders in the selection of heavy fleshed animals, nor feeders in the observance of such treatment as shall favour the production of lean, meat instead of tallow." This is the practical view of the results of the approved methods of breeding and feeding animals for the show, the avowed object being to prove what breeds and what plan of feeding w^ill produce the best food for man with the economical use of food for stock. But if the sj^stem fails in one object, it is probably successful in the less patriotic but still laudable one of money- making. It pays ! Does it ? Let us hear some remarks from practical men, and first, Mr. Stratton, on the matter of finance : — " I take a calf, to begin with, as being worth £'2. I take it the animals shown in the ' young ' class at Smith- field had at least two gallons of milk a day for nine months, and a great many have a good deal more ; but as milk is w^orth something like a shilling a gallon in my part of the world, you will understand how it is that I cannot distinguish myself in that class. Two gallons a day for nine months equals 540 gallons, which, at 7d. a gallon, represents about £15. You cannot put the hay and roots down at less than Is. a week, or £2 12s. a year ; and then the cake, say, 1^ lb. a day, amounts to 5 cwt. 118 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. at 8s., which is £2 ; making the total cost at the end of the first year ^21 12s." Mr. Stratton goes on to reckon that for the next nine months the animal will cost at the rate of 7s. 6d. per week, and at the end of the time the total expenditure will amount to £36 os. He further assumes that the bullock Avill weigh 11|^ cwt., or dead 44 score, which, at 15s. a score, will bring ^33, showing a dead loss of £Z 5s. Again, let us hear what another practical man, the writer of " Live Stock Notes " in the Mark Lane Express^ has to say about the results of feeding on the improved system for fat stock shows. He is writing of three Oxford- shire wethers, prize-winners at Smithfield : — " They were magnificent sheep — from the breeder's point of view perfect ; they took the reserve number for the Champion Plate, as the best pen of sheep in the show : and what became of them ? Well, they were last seen by us in a little shop in Lambeth Walk, lying down in the shop awaiting their doom, one week after the show had closed. After tens of thousands of people had admired them, congratulations had been passed between breeders, and prize-money pocketed, these wretched animals were about to be sold* retail at fully 25 per cent, below the value of New Zealand carcases ; and in respect of actual consumer's value, the two articles would scarcely bear naming in the same day." These are the practical views of the com- mercial advantages of the forcing system. Up to the present we have not gained much by leaving the science of the matter, in order to get the evidence of the practical farmer, in favour of breeding and feeding for early maturity. After half a century of practice on improving the live stock of the farm, the exponents of the system tell WHAT IS TO EE DONE? 119 US that tbe kind of food to be oiven to yoqdo- animals for the production of lean meat instead of tallow — is "a point awaiting decision : " that the result of the improved prac- tice of feeding is " mostly tallow : " that " young cattle are fed to the highest state of perfection — at a loss of £3 per head : " and that prize sheep, in regard to their value, " are not to be named in the same day with New Zealand carcases." It is almost time to let science have another word or two on the subject. It may help us in our concluding reflections on Animal Life, if we can make out what are the states of existence which are possible under any form of management. Mr. E. Ray Lankester tells us that " we have as possi- bilities either balance or elaboration or degeneration," — and again that " any new set of conditions occurring to an animal which renders its food and safety very easily attained, seems to lead as a rule to degeneration." That these sentences were written without any particular reference to the management of the live stock of the farm is quite certain ; but thoy contain truths which the breeder and feeder have been forced by circumstances to illustrate over and over af^ain in the course of his well meant but misdirected practice. Without knowing or thinking anything about the three possibilities of the biologist, the practical breeder has aimed at the second — elaboration, and has hit the third — degeneration, the natural consequence of the new set of conditions, which art has introduced. This is the doctrine of the biologist, and experience has proved its truth. What, then, is there left to be said in favour of a system of breeding and feeding, which science empha- tically condemns, and practice admits to have failed in 120 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. its main objects of making good food for man, and giving some profit to those who are engaged in the business of making it? Positively nothing. If it were not the case that the system has become fashionable, and animals of favourite strains command a high but utterly fictitious price in the market, it would not stand for a day. Does any man with the average share of common sense enter- tain a doubt that the wdiole scheme of breeding for early maturity w^ould undergo a radical change, if breeders were suddenly to become im2Dressed with the necessity of producing a hardy, healthy race of animals, which would afford healthy and substantial food for man. It is not easy, and it is the reverse of satisfactory, to have to admit that in the course of long years of steady effort we have been wilfully grojoiug in the dark. But the sooner w^e get a glimpse of the fact, the less difficult it will be to retrace our steps ; and there is no escape from the conclusion that if we mean to continue to cultivate the live stock of the farm, we shall have to proceed in a direction as nearly as possible, in some respects at least, opposite to the one which we have taken for many years. Things wMcli can be done. — It is related of Cuvier, the great naturalist, that he once entered a room in which some literary friends were engaged in compiling a dictionary, and had just defined the word "crab" — " a small red fish, which walks backwards." Cuvier was appealed to for an opinion as to the fitness of the terms. He replied : — "Gentlemen, the crab is not a fish, it is not red, and it does not w^alk backwards ; — with these excep- tions, your definition is excellent." WHAT IS TO BE DOXE ? 121 At this moment the author, speakiog modestly, feels him- self in the position of the great naturalist, to whom the breeders for early maturity appeal somewhat as follows : — '• Sir, — This is our system, the outcome of years of prac- tice. We breed from young, immature sires or dams, or both ; often from families known to be tainted with here- ditary disease, but of high pedigree. We shut up the progeny in sheds summer and winter, ci-am them with rich food, load them with fat to an uncomfortable extent, knowing that nobody will eat it, get them to a great weight at an early age, take prizes at shows, and some- times get great prices in the market, bat altogether we lose money by the business. Have you anything to sug- gest ?" To whom the author would fain say, if he might say it without offence : — " Gentlemen, — It is wrong to breed from immature sires and dams, or from animals, whether old or young, with any constitutional disease or tendency thereto. The shutting up of young stock in sheds summer and winter is in every way objectionable. You should not cram animals with stimulating food to produce s, lot of fat which no one will eat. Feeding stock merely to get prizes is not a legitimate object for the stock owner to aim at, but making good food for the people is; — with these exceptions, your system is excellent." Breeding for " Maturity." — By omitting the word «arly before maturity we get rid of a difficulty which has barred the way for a long time. Under this " new system," which, by-the-bye, is as '•' old as the hills," we may still select the best type of animals for parents. Pedigree is not objectionable, but inherited feebleness of constitution or tendency to disease is. Therefore, soundness is the first 122 AXIMAL LIFE OX THE FARM. qualification for the sires and dams of a healthy race. It must, however, be admitted that the carrying into effect of this principle would lead to the exclusion of some of our most valuable bulls and heifers, on account of the existence of the taint of scrofula (tuberculosis), a disease Avhich is extending jqrt by year in some of the cultivated breeds of cattle, and threatens serious results unless the greatest care be taken to avoid using infected animals for stock purposes. Next in importance to soundness of constitution may be placed maturity. Until animals have reached/ the adult period, they are not proper subjects to breed from. The completion of permanent dentition is a fair test of matu- rity — say, three years of age for cattle and sheep, and eighteen months for swine. The objection that the breeder cannot afford to wait so lono^ has nothing^ to do with the physiologist's view of the matter, and if the breeder decides that he cannot afford to do what is right> he has only to refer to the previous chapter to see how ta do what is wrong with a high hand. Management of Breeding Animals Having selected mature and healthy sires and dams, it may be presumed that the breeder will take some trouble about their manage- ment during gestation. Good food, fresh air, exercise, and protection from severe climatic changes, are the chief things to be attended to ; at no time during the period of gestation can the dams be subjected to neglect or ill- treatment without danger. Errors in management at the early part of the period may not be visited on the animals until near the time of parturition, or at the time or after; and the pathologist who has to investigate outbreaks of WHAT IS TO BE DONE? 123 disease in breedincr herds or flocks often lias to 20 back for some months to find out the causes. Feeding for the Butcher. — Perfectly healthy stock, born of care full}' -selected, mature, and sound parents, may, without injmy to the breed, be forced to a condition of " early maturity," falsely so called ; but the terms liave a conventional meaning, which is understood. As the young animals are to be got ready for slaughter as quickly as reasonably may be, they must be fattened in the open pastures, if possible : but, in any case, fattened suffi- ciently to satisfy the demands of the butcher, and econo- mically to meet the requirements of the farmer. There is something hopeful in the fact that agricultural writers are carrying on a crusade against what they rightly call the making of tallow ; and if they only keep on long enough they will produce some eff'ect, in spite of the temptation of the Prize System. One condition might, without hardship, be imposed on all breeders and feeders of stock : animals which are fed for the butcher should on no account — by no afterthouglit — be used for breeding. Let the injury which is done by the excessive use of concentrated food be limited to the recipient, and we know the worst of it at once. The attempt to reconcile the sj^stems of breeding as nearly under natural conditions as domestication will permit with the forcing system of feeding can only gain a measure of success Avhen breeding^ and fatteninor animals are managed on totally different principles. There may be some difficulties in the way, but the scheme is worth testing in practice. Its formula might be thus stated : *'* Secure mature and sound parents, so as to produce a 124 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. healthy progeny ; place these, if you like, under artificial conditions of life ; damage their constitutions, for a time, and up to a certain point, then kill and eat them — and be thankful." This is a candid exposition of a scheme which, if fairly and honestly worked out, will preserve a very large proportion of our herds and flocks from degeneration, by keeping them as far as possible apart from those sur- roundings which have already been known to exert a steady and constant influence in favour of the "Survival of the Unfittest." It must be obvious that in the course of the preceding remarks on breeding and feeding, only a mere sketch of a large subject has been attempted. Some serious errors, the effect of Avhicli are likely to reach farther than is at present suspected, have been pointed out ; and certain corrections suggested for the consideration of the practical man. But it forms no part of the writer's object to enter upon matters of detail. Experiments in breeding and feeding are still being conducted by competent observers, a,nd the results are published week by week in the agri- cultural journals. It is the fashion among farmers to sneer at the idea of learning their business out of books. Will they accept — as kindly as it is meant ? — the hint that an hour or two devoted to the records of the observations of men who are doing their best to solve the problems in agri- culture, the answers to which are yet unguessed at, will not finally be put down to the score of " mis-spent time " ? Breeding and feeding are matters of practice ; but it is only where the mental state is one of " sweet simiDlicity " that the practical man will urge that the facts of science are hurtful rather than helpful to him in his work. It is quite true that the value of food siuffs can be tested only WHAT IS TO BE DONE ? 125 by feeding animals on them ; because, while the analyst can tell the exact amount of dry nutritive matter, fibre, and ash, he cannot decide how far the digestive powers of different animals may vary, until the test is applied ; but it must surely be useful to the farmer to begin with a knowledge of the chemical value of the foods which he intends to use before he tests their feeding value on the animals. It is time, in these days of Agricultural Colleges and School Boards, that farmers should see the absurdity of a sneer against the "jargon of science." It would be better if plain words could always be used to express facts and notions, but some technical terms can hardly be dis- pensed Avith ; and the rising generation of farmers are bound to master them, as they are bound to master many other thino^s, if Ensflish farming^ is to hold its own against the world. Perhaps the slow progress of agriculture is in a great measure due to the fact that it has always been looked upon as a matter of practice as distinct from science — about as great a blunder as could well be made. As well call the work of the chemist and physiologist, practice as distinct from science. The agriculturist is engaged in carrying on experiments in chemistry and physiology on a srrand scale, and in laboratories — of an extent which mav be indicated not by square feet, but by thousands of square miles. The real difference is that in the small laboratories the workers cannot afford to waste the brief hours of their lives in doing exactly what has been done for centuries before them, or in varying their experiments by mixing a lot of things together just to see what will happen. In scientific work absolute precision is demanded : nothing is put into 126 AXIMAL LIFE OX THE FAEM. a test-tube without a detinite idea of a result which may be expected to occur. The scalpel of the practical physiologist never mov-es the smallest fraction of an inch without absolutely ordered intention ; he knows exactly what he is seeking, and, if he fails to find it, can under- stand, and therefore remove, the causes of his failure. Work in the larq;er laboratories of the farm should certainly be conducted on the principles which regulate work in the smaller fields of labour — that is to say, with absolute precision ; with a full knowledge of the composi- tion and properties of the material used and their relation to the matter in hand, and, above all, with a perfectly definite idea of the object which is to be gained. The farmer, for instance, intends to cultivate certain plants. What relation do their habits bear to the climate and soil ? What food do they require, and how is it to be given ? Is the plant to be fed economically, that is, with- out waste of food? or is the uutritive material to be cast widely over the ground or buried in it, leaving the plant to seek it as best it may ? On the other hand, the practical breeder selects stock for breeding animals for the butcher, for the dairy, for wool or mutton. He feeds with the view to flesh and tat, milk or wool, and incidentally for manure. Does he know from the experience of the past or the work of the present, all the facts that bear upon his practice — the composi- tion and properties of all the materials which he uses, and their exact relation to the several objects at which he aims in his experiments ? To come closer home, does the worker in the larger laboratory know as much of the laws of science and practice of farming as he might learn by giving a few weeks' time to the careful study of the half dozen AVHAT IS TO BE DONE? 127 little hand-books of the Farm Series ? Xo. Then he has no business in the workshop at all ; and if he does not get blown out of it into small pieces, he may thank his stars that he is not working with explosive substances. The conclusion of the argument is, that the farmer who is not a scientific worker — using the term in its ordinaiy sense — does not work at all; he inlays — and either wins or loses by chance. At the beginning of this chapter the question was asked, '' What is to be done ? " In reply the author has ventured to sug'sjest some chano^es in the manaofement of the live-stock of the farm, not involving any radical alter- ations in the system which the fashion uf the day decrees. He has not asked for much, and is even prepared for less than he has asked, remembering, as he does, the Turkish proverb : — *' Blessed is he wlio expects nothing, lie shall never be disappointed." CHAPTER X. DECAY AND DEATH. Life consists on the Correspondence of the Functions Avith their Surroundings — Environment— Death occurs when the Correspondence is Disturbed — Molecular and Somatic Death — Death beginning at the Heart, in the Lung, the Brain, in the Blood — Life 'and Death equally associated with Activity. Death — the universal fact — not doubted by the most contentious of disputants. Even the agnostic knows that stern reality. Life, as we have seen, is defined in a formula for the convenience of thinkers. The w^ords used do not cloak our ignorance : they honestly express it. All we know about life — they say — is that it is a series of phenomena manifested by living beings. Life is the cor- respondence of the changes which we know are always o-oing on in the living organism, with the external con- ditions — the environments — that is, heat, electricity, air, light — everything by which the living being is surrounded — in the midst of which it lives and moves. So long as the organism, whether it be the living mass of transparent jelly (bioplasm), or the highest form of animal or plant, continues in correspondence with its environment, it lives — might indeed, for anything which we see to the contrary, live for ever. " Perfect corre- spondence," says Mr. Herbert Spencer, " would be perfect life : Avere there no changes in the environment but such as the organism had adapted changes to meet, and were it DECAY AND DEATH. 129 never to fail in the efficiency with which it met them, there would be eternal existence." These words are worth thinking over — one at a time if need be — until their full meaning and force are grasped. They contain well-nigh all that is to be said on the subject of life, and leave very little to be added to express all that can be said about death. Livino^ substance lives so lonof as it is in perfect correspondence with its environment. Life ceases when the correspondence is interrupted, and this state of cessation of vital actions we call death. Eternal existence of the living organism is not a fact — we may safely affirm this, because we see organism cease to live — and therefore we may conclude that changes do occur in the environment which the organism has not "adapted changes " to meet. This is a very simple piece of logic. But we are, perhaps, hardly prepared to learn that the organism is so arranged with regard to its environ- ment, that the two get, more or less, out of correspondence the moment they begin to correspond. If we were invited to witness the spectacle of an animal partly dead and partly living, we should probably rush to see something so startling, and consider ourselves the victims of a hoax if we were shown a horse or man in an ordinary state of life and health. Yet there is no joke, but a serious reality before us. At the moment that vital action begins in the germ some of the living particles get out of correspondence with their surroundings, cease to live, and are thrown or dissolved, and probably absorbed as food by the living particles which remain. During the whole period of the development of the embryo, living substance is constantly dying from want of nutriment, or other de- rangements of its external relations, and, after birth, so 130 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. long as life lasts, living matter in the organism is always dying and living again, until at length the entire cessation of correspondence with the environment leaves no more living matter to die. Complete, or what pathologists call somatic, death, is only an extension of the death of the particles of living structure — molecular death — which is one of the results of vital activity in all living beings. Dr. Masters* has explained how death in plants occurs in various parts of the organism, while other parts live on. Death may begin at the root of the plant, or in its leaves, and when the dead organ is essential to the life of the plant the whole of the organism dies. Death in animals also may commence in the vital organs of the body, or in the blood, or the tissues, and its comple- tion depends on the relation which the dead part holds to the rest of the organism. The eye may be out of corre- spondence with light, and the ear with the waves of air ; the animal may be blind and deaf, but this molecular death of certain " end organs " of nerves does not affect the life of other organs. A limb, or part of it, may suffer from " changes in the environment" which it has no ''adapted changes to meet." It may, for instance, be subjected to intense heat or cold, oj- crushing weight, and this failure to meet the changes efficiently results in disturbance of correspondence, and life ceases. But this molecular death does not necessarily extend. It may, and if the dead part remain long in contact with the living it will ; but the dead mass may be * "Life on the Farm— Plant Life," By Maxwell T. Masters, M.D., F.E.S. Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., 9, Bouverie Street, London. DECAY AXD DEATH. 131 purposely removed, or the liviog textures in contact with it may throw it off, by exerting their own vital force and intei-posing a disconnecting film of new tissue between the dead and the living. Death beginning in a vital organ leads to systemic or somatic death, because all other vital organs are depen- dent on it and on each other. Death of the heart stops the circulation of the blood, on which the maintenance of all the functions of life depend. Death of the lungs arrests the supply of oxygen, without which the blood fails to act as a stimulus to the heart. Death of the blood means death carried to the remotest parts of every tissue ; and death of the nerve centres implies the cessation of the evolution and distribution of force by which organic action is sustained. These several modes of death may be con- sidered without any feeling of solemnity or pity in refer- ence to the animals of the farm, whose lives we hold so cheaply that life or death in them is a mere matter of money loss or gain to us. Death beginning at the Heaxrt. — Cessation of the heart's action may be sudden, from a shock to the nervous system, or gradual, from the failure of its power to contract. In the first condition, the heart after death may be found either firmly contracted, with its cavities empty of blood, or it may be in a relaxed state, with its cavities full of blood which it has not been able to expel, owing to the loss of the muscular irritability which causes it to contract under the influences of the stimulus of the blood flowing into it. Gradual loss of the heart's power to contract occurs under different circumstances. Loss of blood is one direct K 2 182 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FAEM. cause of the failure of the heart to contract, the obvious reason being that the withdrawal of the fluid diminishes its bulk, so that the quantity conveyed to the heart is not sufficient to distend the cavities and induce contraction. It is evident that the rate of decrease in the force of the heart's action will be in proportion to the rapidity of the flow of blood from the wounded vessels. Wasting diseases — to which farm animals are liable — some kinds of poisons, deficient quantity or bad quality of food, excessive and continued exertion and exposure, are among the causes which gradually affect the energy of the heart contraction, and ultimately lead to its cessation. Death beginning at the Lungs. — When the organs of the respiratory system and their uses were considered, enough was said to prove that air is a necessity of life. The blood must get a supply of oxygen or it ceases to stimulate the heart ; therefore, death of the lungs means not only stoppage of breathing, but also of the circulation and death from asphyxia, which means stoppage of circula- tion — pulselessn ess. The circumstances under which death begins at the lungs are numerous. Disease of the lung tissues may be associated with obstruction to the passage of blood, by the blocking up in the vessels. Effusion of fluid into the cavity of the chest may cause pressure on the yielding lung structures, and produce the same result as excessive distension of the stomach with a gas — a common occur- rence in cattle and sheep — and may cause the organ to press on the diaphragm, and push it forward into the chest and thus diminish the size of the cavity, and prevent the necessary expansion for inspiration. In bronchial diseases DECAY AND DEATH. 133 the accumulation of mucus may stop the entrance of air into the smaller tubes and air cells, or breathing may be suddenly stopped by spasmodic closure of the opening at the top of the windpipe, or by the entrance of fluids in the act of swallowing — an accident which occurs now and then in giving a drench — or by the severing of the part of the brain (medulla) from which the nerves of respira- tion arise. There is some difference of o^Dinion among pathologists as to the exact way in wdiich death is caused by stopping the breath. One view is that the impure, that is, unaerated blood is sent throuo^h the heart from the luno-s over the body, acting as a poison to the brain and causing uncon- sciousness and death. The other view, wdiich is supported by observations of the state of the lungs in strangled animals, is that the small capillary vessels of the lungs contract and stop the passage of blood from the right side of the heart, so that it never gets back to the left side at all, and, therefore, is not sent over the body. In other words, the circulation is stopped in the lungs, and death beginning in them quick 1}^ arrests the life of the whole Death beginning in the Blood — In many forms of malignant diseases the living matter wdiich the blood is carrying for the repair of wasted tissues dies so rapidly that the dead material cannot be got rid of and new living substance obtained quickly enough to enable the blood to carry on its work of life, and it ends by doing the work of death, presenting dead particles instead of living to the tissues through which it circulates. 134 ANTMAL LIFE OX THE FARM. It is not difficult to see that when the blood-stream is charofed ^'ith effete matters, somatic death must soon follow from the mere absence of the means for sustaining life. The animals of the farm are particularly susceptible to diseases of the blood which end in the death of its con- stituents. Cattle -plague, splenic fever, black quarter, purpura, and scarlatina are maladies in which this condition of the circulating fluid is frequently observed. But death of the blood may occur, independently of any specific disease, from the introduction of organisms which have the power .of inducing putrefactive fermentation. Experiments have proved that this condition may be induced by small par- ticles of septic matter, and the blood thus contaminated itself acquires poisonous properties, and acts as a septic ferment, if introduced into the system of another animal, often causing death in a few hours. Death beginning at the Brain. — Modern physiology has proved that death of a considerable portion of the substance of the brain is not of necessity followed by death of the whole body, and the flock-master may have met with cases among his stock which illustrate the truth of this modern doctrine. The very well-known parasite, the hydatid, which infests the brain of " giddy sheep " some- times encroaches so much on the brain-substance that, w^hen the worm is removed the skull seems to be almost empty ; and yet the animal has continued to live and perform all the functions of life, even, perhaps, has fed well enough to be fit for the butcher. It appears, indeed, that death be- ginning at the brain only results in somatic death » that is death of the whole organism, when the nerve DECAY AND DEATH. 135 ceatres die, and especially when death extends to the origin of the nerves which go to the heart, and the muscles concerned in the act of breathing. Owing to this fact, parasites, hydatids, and tumours may exist in the brain or in its substance for some time without causing any great disturbance, or even indicating their presence until their increase in size leads to pressure in the roots of the nerves ; and then loss of con- sciousness and cessation of circulation and respiration follow. Death beginning at the brain may be sudden, or the result of a violent shock inflicted upon the organ, which at once arrests the distribution of nerve force, and leads to the immediate stoppage of the functions of organic life. This form of death occurs from accident, and is illustrated in the ordinary method of slaughtering animals by the pole-axe. With the cessation of vitality in the organism the story of " Animal Life on the Farm " ends. The wonderful apparatus of the living body which we have been engaged in examining in respect of its structure and uses becomes, when dead, not what it seems to the eye of the ordinary looker-on, but the centre of new changes, which will end in the conversion of the complex tissues into simple com- pounds of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus, which will be again organised by the plant world, and used to support a new race of animals. And thus the " World goes round." Life is incessant action. In sleeping and waking there are going on development, growth, waste, repair, change, 136 ANIMAL LIFE ON THE FARM. and decay. Death, whatever it may mean, does not mean rest for the body, but rather full liberty to every particle to seek new forms and combinations. In Life and Death the law is, ceaseless activity. There is no such thing as Rest in the Universe. GLOSSARY. Albuminoid. — Relating to or containing albumen. An organic com- pound of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen, with sulphur and phosphorus ; represented in the white of an egg. Bioplasm. — Living plasma. Living matter in the most simple form {sec Plasma). Capillaries. — Minute hair-like vessels, intermediate in situation between the arteries and veins. Chyle. — A milky fluid containing dissolved albuminoids and minute particles of fat. The fluid is formed during intestinal digestion, and is absorbed by the lacteals. Diaphragm (Midriff or Skirt). — The muscular partition which divides the cavity of the chest from the abdomen. Diastase. — A vegetable principle, allied in general properties to gluten, which is produced in the germination of barley and other seeds, and converts starch into gum and sugar. Epithelial. — Relating to epithelium — a layer of cells on the surface of the skin, and mucous and serous membranes. Pollicle. — A minute tube or secreting cavity, as the hair follicles of the skin. Irritability. — A property of muscle which renders it sensitive to the action of the stimuhis which causes the muscle to contract. liacteals. — Minute vessels arising in the small intestines, which take up the milky fluid (chyle) and carry it to a larger vessel (the thoracic duct), whence it flows into the large veins near the heart. Xiymph. — A colourless fluid, consisting of the plasma of the blood, with colourless corpuscles. XiyTQiphatics. — Small vessels which arise in the tissues in all parts of the body, and carry back to the blood the excess of lymph which the tissues do not immediately require. Mediilla.— The spinal marrow, especially the expanded part of it at the base of the brain. Also the fattv substance, the marrow of bones. 138 . GLOSSARY. Mesentery. — A fold of serous membrane covering the intestines, and attaching them to other organs and parts. Mucous Secretion. — A thick tenacious transparent fluid, which is secreted by mucous membranes— for example, the membrane of the nostrils. (Esophagais (Swallow or Gullet). — A muscular canal or tube, with a lining of mucous membrane extending from the pharynx to the stomach, for the passage of the food. Pepsin. — An organic substance existing in gastric juice, which is secreted by the peptic glands of the stomach. Pepsin in solution with dilute acids acts on albuminoids, and renders them soluble. Peptones. — Albuminoids rendered soluble by the action of j)epsin in solution with dilute hydrochloric acid. Pliarsmx. — A muscular pouch or cavity at the back of the mouth, form- ing the entrance to the oesophagus. The phar^oix is lined by mucous membrane continued from the mouth. Physiology. — The science which treats especially of the functions of living beings, and of the properties of organic bodies. Plasma. — The tenacious, plastic, liquid portion of the blood, in which the corpuscles (red and colourless) float. Ptyalin. — An albuminoid compound in the saliva (spittle), which acts like diastase, converting starch into gum and sugar. Sebaceous. — Like suet. The term is applied to the secretion which is known as *' the yolk " in the wool of the sheep, and is very abundant on some parts of the skin. The substance is of an oily nature, and is secreted from numerous small glands and follicles in the skin. Serous Membranes. — So called because they secrete a thin yellowish fluid like the seram of the blood. The fluid is called sei'ous fluid. Tuberculosis (Consumption). — A disease in which a deposit occm's in the form of small nodules (tubercles) in the lungs, lymphatic glands, and other organs of the body. INDEX. ♦ — Abomasum, 21 Absorption of chyle, 29 Agi'icultiiral shows, 116 Amides, 23 Animal life, 6 Arteries, 36 Artificial feeding, 95 selection, 91 Assimilation, -1 Automatic movements of nerves, 83 Baby beef, 101, 105 mutton, 101 Battle of Life, 87 among plants, 87 survival of the fittest, 88 of the unfittest, 89, 121 Beginnings of life, 9 BUe, action of, 29 Bioplasm, 2, 32, 61, 97, 128 Blood, 32 circulation, 35 coagulation, 3-i corpuscles, 33 great ei', 38 lesser, 38 nutrition, 33 office of, 33 pulse, 39 rate of, 40 rapidity of, 40 scheme of, 36 sources of loss and gain, 41 Body, structure of, 53 Bone, 55 Brain, 80 highest functions of, 83 Breathing, effects on air, 47 on blood, 48 on tissues, 48 Breeding, principles of, 89, 101 for maturity, 121 animals, management of, 122 Bronchial tubes, 44 Calves, feeding, 104 ; for show, 117 Chest, cavity of, 44 diaphragm, 44 pleura, 44 sternum, 44 Chyle, absorption of, 29 course of, 29 Corpuscles, blood, 33 Cuticle, 68 Daravix (Francis), on the analogies of plant and animal life, 3, 84 Death, begimiing in the blood, 133 in the brain, 134 in the heart, 131 in the limgs, 132 molecular, 130 somatic, 130 Decay and death, 128 Development, 8 precocity of, 89, 193 Digestion, in intestines, 28 in mouth, 25 insalivation, 26 mastication, 25 in stomach, 26 gastric juice, 26 pepsin, 27 rumination, 27 Digestive organs, 17 ; action of, 98 abomasum, 21 intestines, 21 liver, 22 mouth, 17 oesophagus, 20 140 INDEX. Digestive orgKos— continued. omasum, 20 pancreas, 22 pharynx, 19 rumen, 20 saKvary glands, 18 stomach, 19 type of, 47 Domestication, life in. 92 Drosera, tentacles of, 74 sensitiveness of, 76 Early maturity. 97 feeding for, 103 statement of results, 111 ^gg, changes in, 7 Embryo, development of, 8 Evershed (Henry) onbaby beef, 101, 104 Excretion, 15 Existence, struggle for, 91 Expiration, 45 Exploding power of irritable tissue, 63 Fat stock shows, 116 cost of feeding animals, 117 Patty tissue, 66 Eeeding, artificial, ^o for early matui'itv, 103 for the butcher, 123 unprofitable, 117 Flesh, 60 and fat, 106 Foetus, growth of, 9 Food, 23 albuminoids, 23 amides, 23 artificial, 95 carbo-hydrates, 23 fats, 23 water, 24 Forcing system, nutrition under, 105 Fomi, 52 Ganglia, 79 chains of, 80 Oastric juice, 26 Gei-minal vesicle, 7 area, 9 Glands, mesenteric, 30 sweat, 68, 99 sebaceous, 68 Growth of foetus, 9 Hair, 69 Hearing, 80 Heart and its vessels, 36, Hoof, 69 Horn, 69 Hydatids in sheep, 134 IXCUBATION, 8 Insahvation, 26 Inspiration, 45 Intestines, 21 Irritability of muscles, 62 Joints, 59 Life in domestication, 92 Live stock, early maturity of, 97 pedigree, 112 Liver, functions of, 14 Lungs, 43 diseases of, 132 tubes of, 44 Lymphatic vessels, 40 Marvels of plant life, 85 Mastication, 25 Medulla, 80 Mesenteric glands, 30 Mimosa, a sleeping plant, 84 expenments on, 85 Molecular death, 130 Mulberry mass of motor nerves, 81 Muscles, action of stimuli on, 65 conditions of growth of, 107 contraction, 61, 109 latent, 63 energy of, 64 harm on}- of motion, Qo irritability, 62 nutrition of, 109 power, sources of, 65 rapid motion of, 63 rigor mortis, 66 duration of, 66 smooth, 62 sources of action, 65 striated, 62 tonicity, 61, 109 uniformity of, 64 varieties of, 61 Nerve fibres, 79 Nervous system, 73 nerve organs, primitive type, 79 automatic movements, 83 functions of, 81 in vertebrate animals, SO INDEX. 141 Nervous system — continued. nerve organs, motor, 81 sensory, 81 voluntary movements, 82 Nutrition, 10; of muscle, 109 \mder the forcing system, 105 CESOPHAGUS, 19 Omasum, 20 Ossitic deposits, 12 Ovum, 7 Pancreas, 22 Pancreatic fluid, 28 Pedigree stock, breeding, 112, 121 Pepsin, 27 Peptones, 27, 28 Pharynx, 19 Plant life, marvels of, 85 Plants, sleeping movements of, 84 sensibility in, 74 Practice versus science, 97, 125 Prize system, 123 Pulse in animals, 39 Reflex action of nerve system, 81 Repair, processes of, 15 Residual air, 46 Respiration, 42 apparatus of, 43 effects of, on the air, 47 on the blood in the lungs, 48 on the tissues, 48 in relation to nutrition, 49 rate of, 45 Rigor moi-tis, 66 Ruminants, stomach of, 20 digestion in, 27 Rumination, 27 Sebaceous glands, 68 Secretion, 15 Selection, artificial, 94 natural, 90 Selective power of tissue, 11 of organs, 13 perversion of, 12 Sense, organs of special, 80 Sensibility in plants, 74 Sensitive plant, experiments on, 84 Sensory nerves, 81 Septic poisoning, 134 Sheep, unprofitable, 118 hydatids in, 134 Show system, objects of, 114 results of, 115 Sight, 80 Skeleton, divisinn of, 56 fore extremities, 57 hind extremities, 51 joints, 59 Skin, absorbing power of, 70 cutis, 68 cuticle, 68 exhalation, 71 functions of, 70 vicarious action of, 13 Smell, 80 Somatic death, 130, 134 Spencer (Herbert) on perfect life, 128 Spinal cord, 80 Stock, fat, cost of feeding, 118 Stratton (Mr.) on the cost of feeding for fat-stock shows, 178 Survival of the fittest, 88 of the unfittest, 89, 124 Sweat glands, 68, 99 Taste, 80 Tissues, soft, 59 Tonieitv of muscles, 61 Touch, 80 Trachea, 44 Veins, 36 Vicarious secretion, 13 Voluntary movement of nerves, 82 Waste or effete matters, 15, 99 Water or food, 24 Windpipe, 44 Wood, 69 Yolk, sac, 9 THE END. LONDON : BKADBURy, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIAI RADBORY, BGNEW AND ^^ 'S nhlxtnixouB. 8, 9, & 10, Bouverie Street, E.G. LONDON. 2 Bradbury, Agnew, & Co!s Publzcattons. PUNCH. a i "r)UNCH ' is a liistoriaii of the time in which he lives. Future genera- r tions may look to these volumes and tell to a nicety what the men and women of the present day are like, can recover the evanescent fashions, can learn the fashionable foibles, can tell how the great men of their time appeared to their humorous contemporaries, can hit to a cer- tainty the leading characteristics as well of things as of men ; for the suc- cess of the ' Punch i^ictures half due to the circimistance an element, large or small, outrageous of them. This caricature, with pen as has always distinguished volumes testify. 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