378 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



fine, by pressing them at the place where they penetrate into the 

 flesh. In the last case, we sink the skin and the finger into the 

 opening through which the vein passes: the width of this open- 

 ing represents the diameter of the vein, and then the thickness 

 of the finger, which stops it, represents that of the column of 

 blood whose place it occupies. It is superfluous to add that, 

 when the veins are divided, it is necessary to examine all the 

 openings by which they pass, in order to form a correct estimate. 



"Milk ways, is the name given to the openings of which we 

 have just been speaking. They are traversed by the lacteal 

 veins at the moment when these disappear in the body. 



"At the times when cows are not giving milk, the lacteal 

 veins, little swollen, are not in accordance with the milking quali- 

 ties. It is then necessary, for determining these qualities, to 

 compress the vein at its anterior extremity, in order to stop the 

 blood, and make the vein swell up. A good method of produc- 

 ing this result, consists in thrusting the finger into the opening 

 by which the vein penetrates into the body. This process enables 

 us, moreover, to determine the size of the vein, for when the 

 blood diminishes, this opening contracts less rapidly than the 

 vein. 



VEINS OF THE UDDER, AND OF THE PERINEUM. 



"The veins of the udder, and the perimeum, or twist, to which 

 hitherto sufficient importance has not been given, are able to 

 furnish valuable indications. They should, in both cases, be 

 highly developed, large and varicose; that is, exhibit inflations 

 and nodosities. 



"The veins of the udder have no definite direction. They 

 present themselves very irregularly, under the form of zigzag 

 lines, knotted, and more or less oblique. They are never of very 

 large size, except in cows which give great quantities of milk. 

 (See plate 28.) 



"The veins of the twist directed from above, downward, form- 

 ing a winding line, interspersed with knots, resemble those of the 



