Objections to the System. 41 



cannot see why the former should not be as plainl}' marked as the latter, 

 if the direction of the hair depends on the direction of the arteries. 



But, it ma>^ be asked, in what possible manner could the one condition 

 influence the other ? It must be remembered that physiology is still a grow- 

 ing science, and that there are many things yet to learn, so that it is still 

 pardonable to confess ignorance. We know, however, tliat the cavity in 

 the skin surrounding the hair (hair follicle) is set in an oblique direction, 

 as well as the hair that emerges from it ; the papilla at the bottom of this 

 cavity must also be inclined, and it is this that, in all probability, decides 

 the direction of the hair, as the growth of this takes place by additions of 

 cells from the surface of the papilla. Now, each papilla, or elevation, has 

 a vascular loop, or, as some say, a minute artery and vein, and one can 

 easily imagine how the direction of this minute artery might influence the 

 direction of the papillary summit, and, consequently, of the hair that grows 

 from it. 



I do not say that this is the proper explanation, but I suggest it as one 

 way in which the correspondence might be accounted for. I do say, how- 

 ever, that the evidence brought to bear on this point by Mr. Reeder can 

 have no influence in deciding the question, for the reason I have given. 



Dr. Henry Stewart, the noted scientific and practical farmer and writer, 

 said lately ; " I have for some time past been studying the nature of the 

 escutcheon physiogically and anatomically." And he has " recently dis- 

 covered a still more satisfactory connection between the milking capacity 

 of a cow and the development of the escutcheon." 



" The milk-vein is an important mark of the deep-milking cow. But it 

 is not the veins, but the arteries, which supply blood to the system, either 

 for the production of tissue or the secretion of the milk. And yet the veins 

 are important because they bear a direct relation to the arteries, being the 

 return channels for the blood after it has fulfilled its functions ; and so the 

 larger supply of blood conveyed by the arteries requiring a vein of large 

 capacity to return it, this vein is an ultimate indication of the vigor of the 

 circulation of the lacteal organs. The main artery which supplies these 

 organs is the subcutaneous abdominal [what Mr. S. says is commonly called 

 the milk-vein.] This important artery supplies a large part of the posterior 

 portion of the system, furnishing blood to the genital organs and the skin 

 covering these and the adjacent parts. The subcutaneous^bdominal artery 

 is one of the two branches of the external pudic artery in the female, the 

 other being the mammary artery. This last is very voluminous and dis- 

 tributes several main branches to the mammary glands and tissue, and also 

 by a prolongation between the thighs, supplies the inferior commissure of 

 the vulva and gives off man^^ smaller branches, which spread into a net- 

 work among the glandular tissue and the cutaneous structure. Here is the 

 close connection, then, between the skin of the posterior part of the cow, 

 from the lower point of the vulva down between the thighs and around the 

 udder, and the udder itself. The same artery supplies all this portion of 

 the skin, furnishes the subaceous glands and the hair follicles, and the whole 

 cutaneous structure, and the hair also with blood, and also provides for the 

 demands of ihe milk-secreting organs. A vigorous circulation through a 

 voluminous arterial system * * * * gives a relatively vigorous milk 

 secretion, and, as well, a growth of hair, which curls and forms the well- 

 known peculiar structure of the escutcheon." 



