674 
AN ESSAY ON FAT AND MUSCLE. 
constant breeding of animals in this manner (other objects of course 
being attended to) would to a certainty develop those desirable 
qualities in a greater degree than was possessed by the founders of 
the race. It is no argument to the contrary that the present race 
of horses on the turf are not capable of running such long distances 
and carrying such heavy weights as the olden racers were, since 
the system adopted in rearing, training, and racing, has been very 
considerably altered within the last half century. Our blood stock 
were formerly shorter in the leg, and more compact and muscular 
animals, seldom running until four years old, and frequently not 
until five years. But they now run at two years old, carrying 
light weights and running short distances, where bottom and stout- 
ness are not so necessary ; and it is this difference in the style of 
racing which has altered their former character. 
There are certain external signs or tokens which are used as 
indications of early maturity, and of the determination of the animal 
frame to produce fat or muscle in an eminent degree. We will 
proceed to consider some of them. The first token which a grazier 
will make use of, for the purpose of ascertaining the feeding pro- 
perties of an ox, is technically called the touch — a criterion second 
to none, inasmuch as a thick, hard, unyielding hide indicates a bad 
feeder and an unprofitable animal. A thin papery-feeling hide, 
covered with thin hair, indicates the very reverse of the former, as 
such an animal will speedily fatten, but will not carry much muscle; 
at the same time it indicates a delicate constitution. This quality 
is produced in animals by great refinement in breeding, and 
especially by breeding from animals near of blood ; in doing so, 
we should remember that we are deviating from the natural cha- 
racters in a point connected with hardiness of constitution. The 
perfect touch in a feeding animal will be found with a thick loose 
skin, floating as it were on a layer of soft fat, yielding to the least 
pressure, and springing back to the touch of the finger, like a piece 
of thick chamois leather. This token indicates hardiness of con- 
stitution and capability of carrying plenty of muscle, as well as a 
sufficiency of fat. The physiological history of these tokens is as 
follows : — The cutis, or true skin, is that portion of the ex- 
ternal integuments from which leather is manufactured, and is 
much more dense and elastic in some breeds than in others. Its 
external surface lies in contact with a layer of cellular tissue which 
intervenes between it and the muscle. This cellular tissue contains 
a larger or smaller amount of fat cells ; and the mellow feel which 
is found in some animals arises from the resiliency or springing 
back of the cellular tissue in which the fat is deposited on being 
touched. Where there is much “ mellowness” in a lean animal, 
it arises from the free circulation of the bloodvessels through the 
