mazome_.[23] This constituent varies in nature and
quantity in the different animals--hence the variety in flavor and odour
of their flesh--and its amount increases with the age of the animal.
The albumen of the muscles, and their fatty and saline constituents,
are digestible; but it is generally believed that the elastic fibres,
and the horny cellular tissue which binds them into bundles, are not
assimilable. It is more certain that the crystalline substances found in
flesh, such as, for example, _kreatine_, are incapable of ministering to
the nutrition of animals.

The composition of flesh varies very much--that of a very obese pig
containing more than half its weight of fat, whilst in some specimens
of "jerked beef," imported from Monte Video, scarcely 5 per cent. of
that substance was found. The flesh of a fat ox has on an average the
following composition:--

Per cent.

Water 45
Fatty substances 35
Lean flesh, or muscle 15
Mineral matters 5
---
Total 100

I have examined for Dr. Morgan several specimens of the corned beef
recently prepared in South America, by "Morgan's process." The following
were the average results of three analyses:--

Per cent.

Water 40
Fatty matters 21
Lean, or muscular flesh 27
Mineral matters (chiefly common salt) 12
---
Total 100

It may not here be out of place to direct attention to the composition
of a kind of animal food extensively purchased by the poorer classes,
and known under the term of slink veal. It is the flesh of calves that
are killed on the first day of their existence, and also, I have reason
to believe, that of very immature animals--of calves that have never
breathed. The flesh is of a very loose texture naturally, and is still
further puffed out by air, which is usually supplied from the lungs of
the operator. This kind of meat, though regarded as a delicacy by some
people, is not held in much estimation, o