76 THE MILK VESSEL. 



When filled, the udder should retain its flatness of 

 form, accompanied with a certain squareness of out- 

 line. When viewed from behind it should appear 

 broad and deep, extending far back, its attachments 

 loose even to the vulva, and presenting to the sight 

 no hollowness above the glands, no clefts, nor any 

 vacancy between itself and the twists of the thighs. 

 As viewed from the side it should extend well for- 

 ward, and its skin should merge into the swollen and 

 tortuous milk-veins. No indentation should be seen 

 between the teats, and the hand passed beneath 

 should clearly render sensible the great breadth and 

 flatness, while the eye takes in a levelness of sole 

 corresponding to a line drawn from a point near the 

 brisket, to the hindermost part of the vessel. 



The signification of this udder is its harmony with 

 the uses for which it is designed. The breadth of its 

 attachments not only allows the vessel to have large 

 cubic contents with little depth, thus allowing the 

 glands to be in closer proximity to the channels of 

 supply and removal, but necessitates other modifica- 

 tions of structure. 



The economy of the position is such as protects 

 the bag in the largest degree from chance injuries, 

 and the animal is freed from the annoyance of the sag 

 in walking on the road, or grazing. As the result of 

 greater nearness to the heart and the lungs, the blood 

 has less distance to traverse in its rounds, and thus 

 the freedom of its circulation is increased. In the 

 human breast the difference in size in favor of the 

 left can only be accounted for by its greater nearness 



