CHAPTER I. 

 anfc 



Those organs whose secretions we give the name of 

 milk are called milk glands and their aggregate form 

 in the cow, including the skin that covers them, the 

 udder. 



These glands do not, by nature, come into activity 

 until a short time before parturition and during a 

 variously protracted period after this act. The first 

 secretion in the udder caused by a heightened afflu- 

 ence of blood to all generative organs after conception, 

 is noticeable about the middle of the period of gesta- 

 tion ; the teats of the heifer will at this time, when 

 stripped, render a small drop of viscuous transparent 

 gum, which when ocurring may be accepted as the 

 first visible sign of pregnancy. This sign does, how- 

 ever, not repeat in the cow. Differing from other 

 animal secretions milk is opaque and, when healthy, 

 of a white color. Other hues of color with exception 

 of the first or colostral milk, which is of a yellowish 

 tint, indicate rapidly decomposing milk or the pres- 

 ence of bacteria ; some few intensely colored vegetable 

 foods are also able to give a coloring to the milk. 

 The agreeable sweetish taste of normal milk may be 

 changed by the influence of food or by diseases of the 

 udder. An inflammation ascribed to the action of a 



