14 Gdenon on Milch Cows. 



The Escutcheon or Mirror. 



In his authorized account of the discovery and perfection of his system, 

 Guenon uses the following language : " When fourteen years of age, I used, 

 according to country custom, to drive our only cow to the grazing ground. 

 I was very fond of her, and could have identified her among ever so many. 

 One day as I was whiiing away the time in cleaning and scratching m}' old 

 companion, I noticed that a sort of bran or dandruff detached itself in con- 

 siderable quantities from certain spots on her hind parts, formed by the 

 meeting of the hair as it grew in opposite directions, which spots I have 

 since called ears, from the resemblance they often bear to the bearded cars 

 or heads of wheat or rye. This first attracted my attention, and 1 recollected 

 having heard my grandfather say that it was probable that there were ex- 

 ternal marks on cows whereby their good qualities or their defects might 

 be known — just as we judge of the vital force of a plant and its qualities 

 b}' means of its leaves and lines in its skin. Reflecting on the subject, I 

 arrived at the conclusion that if in the vegetable kingdom there exists ex- 

 ternal signs, whereby the good and the bad qualities of a plant can be posi- 

 tively known, there ought to exist in the animal, or its kingdom, also, marks 

 whereby we may judge, by inspecting an animal, of its qualities, good and 

 bad, and 1 thought I had discovered one of these signs. I sought the 

 bearded ears or quirls, and scratched those spots in quest of dandruff, the 

 abundance or scarcity of this being whatfirst engaged my attention. Every 

 new cow was compared with my own as a standard, and her superiority, 

 equality, or inferiority determined in my own mind. In the course of the 

 comparisons thus instituted by me, with reference to the dandruff alone, 

 which was at first the only thing that governed me, I had occasion to re- 

 mark that great diversities existed among cows in respect to the shape of 

 the bearded ears (quirls) which produced the dandruff. This suggested a 

 new train of reflection and observation, which resulted in my becoming 

 convinced that these s/m^jes were the signs by which to distinguish cows, 

 and to know the good and bad qualities of every individual among them." 



In his original plan, Guenon divided these different shapes into eight 

 classes, each of which was sub-divided into eight orders. As he progressed 

 in his investigations, be afterwards added two more classes, and reduced 

 the orders to six in each class. These he supposed would cover all cases 

 which might come up for examination. lie also divided cows into three 

 grades, which, in accordance with their size, he styled high, low, and me- 

 dium. From this it will be noted that Guenon, in classifying cows, was 

 governed first by the class, second by the order in the class, and finally by 

 their size. These classes he divided and named as follows : 



1st class, or Flanders. 



2d " " Left Flanders. 



3d " " Selvage. 



4th " " Curveline. 1 9th " " Limousine, 



5th " " Bicoru. ' 10th " " Uorizontal 



6th class, or Double Selvage. 



7th " '' Demijohn. 



8th " '' Square Escutcheon. 



The ten orders in each of these classes were simply designated by their 

 appropriate numerals. Each class was better than the succeeding one, and 

 each order better than the following one of the same class, but might be 

 better than the preceding order of the next class. 



Of this seeming multiplicity of classes, orders, and sizes, Chalkly Har- 

 vey, one of the commission appointed to test the system, writes thus : 



" Now this may seom somewhat discouraging to your readers, but with all due re- 

 spect to Guenon, to whom all honor and praise should be accorded for his brilliant 



