REVIEW. 
503 
thing in the shape of interpretation. The French, however, 
are, avowedly, more ingenious and bolder in adventure of this 
sort than we are, and to them on the present occasion we must 
look for some rationale of the phenomenon, taking it, in limine, 
for granted, as we said before, that the “ systeme” itself is one 
founded upon fact. 
Explanation of the Systeme Guenon. 
It is impossible not to acknowledge the connexion subsisting 
between the direction of the hair of the perineum and the acti- 
vity of the udder. A quantity of reversed hair growing infe- 
riorly betokens that cows give a great deal of milk ; whilst 
hairs growing in the vicinity of the external organs of genera- 
tion are observable upon cows known to become dry shortly 
after calving. 
But how are we to explain these relations ? What affinity 
is there between the skin and the functions of the udder ? Phy- 
siologists have already been engaged on these questions. M. 
Yvart believes he can give a reason for the influence of the hair 
upon the perineum through the intimate connexion subsisting 
between the skin and the mucous membranes in the vicinit}' of 
the natural passages. He supposes that the length of hair indi- 
cates development of membrane lining the lacteal reservoirs, 
and thinks that the presence, upon the posterior surface of the 
udder, of a fine skin with thin and fine hair, with a display of 
numerous follicles, indicates that these reservoirs are capacious, 
and that, consequently, the secretion must be abundant. 
This explanation is based upon an anatomical disposition 
observable around all the natural orifices in every animal ; lay- 
ing it down as a general principle, simplifying the system, that 
the milking properties of a cow are in ratio to the length of the 
hair in question, so that by measuring such hair can such quality 
be ascertained ; besides which, the theory rests upon the fact 
observed by M. Yvart, in Cote d’Or, and by M. Reynal in 
Meurthe, that Swiss cows having thick coarse hairs, yield more 
milk than is indicated by their length of hair (escutcheon)*. Now, 
according to the hypothesis of M. Yvart, it ought always to 
happen thus : for the thicker the skin is, the firmer, and most 
opposite to what mucous tissues are, the less it should be 
influenced by the vicinity of such membranes. But, on the 
other hand, why should the hair of the mucous tissue take a 
direction from below upwards? why should the rows of hair and 
* This we believe to be the word in use to denote the part whereon the hairs 
grow, reversed, upon the posterior part of the udder. 
