Objects of Food - Chemical Analyses of Foods - Reliability of Chemical Analysis as a Guide to the Feeding Value of Food - Ferments in Grain - Organs of Digestion - General View of Digestion, Absorption and Assimilation - Digestibility and Wholesomeness of Food - Taking Food into the Mouth - Drinking - Mastication - Digestion in the Stomach - Digestion in the Intestines - Water for the Digestive Juices - Absorption - Nutritive and Digestive Functions of the Constituents of Food - Nutritive Ratio of Food - Appetite and Digestive Power - Variety in Food - Comparative Nutritive Values of different Foods - Causes affecting the Nutritive Value of Vegetable Food - Stowage of Forage - Cleaning of Food - Preparation of Food - Food in Relation to Work - Food for Young Horses - 111 Effects of too much Food - Combining Foods according to a Standard - Maximum Amount of Nitrogenous Matter in Food - Hunger and Thirst.

Objects Of Food

The objects of food, under which term we may include water and oxygen, are to furnish materials for the repair of bodily waste; for development; and for supplying the system with energy for the production of movement and heat. We may therefore divide food into (1) substances which, like nitrogenous matter, fat, starch and sugar, can supply energy and can build up tissue; and (2) those which, like water and mineral salts, serve only to build up tissue, and are not sources of energy. We shall see further on that there is a third class of food (fibre) which aids in digestion, but does not supply, to any marked extent, either energy or building-up material.