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600 MUSCLES.
muscle only 0.067 p. m. iron. Other investigators have only found 0.014-
0.035 p. m. iron in the muscle.
In the table which is given above, no results are given as to the estimates
of fat. Owing to the variable quantity of fat in meat it is hardly possible
to quote a positive average for this substance. After most careful
efforts to remove the fat from the muscles without chemical means, it
has been found that a variable quantity of intermuscular fat, which does
not really belong to the muscular tissue, always remains. The smallest
quantity of fat in the muscles from lean oxen is 6.1 p. m. according to
Grouven, and 7.6 p. m. according to Petersen. This last observer
also regularly found a smaller quantity of fat, 7.6-8.6 p. m., in the
fore quarters of oxen, and a greater amount, 30.1-34.6 p. m., in the hind
quarters of the animal, but this could not be substantiated by Steil.1
A small quantity of fat has also been found in the muscle of wild animals.
B. Konig and Farwick found 10.7 p. m. fat in the muscles of the extrem-
ities of the hare, and 14.3 p. m. in the muscles of the partridge. The
muscles of pigs and fattened animals are, when all the adherent fat is
removed, very rich in fat, amounting to 40-90 p. m. The muscles of
certain fishes also contain a large quantity of fat. According to Almen,
in the flesh of the salmon, the mackerel, and the eel there are contained
respectively 100, 164, and 329 p. m. fat.
2
The quantity of water in the muscle is liable to considerable variation.
The quantity of fat has a special influence on the quantity of water, and
one finds, as a rule, that the flesh which is deficient in water is correspond-
ingly rich in fat. The quantity of water does not depend upon the amount
of fat alone, but upon many other circumstances, among which must
be mentioned the age of the animal. In young animals, the organs
in general, and therefore also the muscles, are poorer in solids and richer
in water. In man the quantity of water decreases until mature age,
but increases again toward old age. Different muscles have also a
different water content and the uninterruptedly active heart is the
richest muscle in water. In man, Magnus-Levy found 748 p. m. water
in the heart, and 722 p. m. in the other muscles. That the quantity
of water may vary independently of the amount of fat is strikingly shown
by comparing the muscles of different species of animals. In cold-blooded
animals the muscles generally have a greater quantity of water, in birds
a lower. The comparison of the flesh of cattle and fish shows very strik-
ingly the different amounts of water (independent of the quantity of fat)
1
See Steil, Pfluger’s Arch., 61.
2
In regard to the literature and complete reports on the composition of flesh of
various animals, see Konig, Chemie der menschlichen Nahrungs- und Genussmittel,
5. Aufl.
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