ON THE FORMATION OF FAT AND MUSCLE. 
503 
ization beneath it and the presence or absence of cellular or adi- 
pose tissue. The existence of this membrane constitutes the good 
handler — its deficiency the reverse. 
The pilarv or hairy covering should be thick, not coarse ; 
glossy and soft, with an inclination to yellow, and in proportion 
as this exists as a quality or constituent, so is the propensity to 
make fat : on the other hand, a thinness of hair and coarseness 
in fibre denotes an unthrifty animal, more especially if conjoined 
with a dense firm hide or skin, and with short hair. This implies 
a bad handler, and is a sure indication of being a slow feeder, 
with a tardy disposition to increase in volume, either of fat or 
muscle. It is by the feel of the cutaneous tissue that a judgment 
is formed as to the state of maturity now, and that an opinion be 
formed of the condition and worth hereafter. The beautiful 
mossy skin that seems like soft velvet, its peculiar feeling as if it 
were stretched over a bed of down when the fingers are applied 
and its easy resilience when traction is made use of, these are the 
best and surest prognostics as to the future worth of the animal. 
Physiologically speaking, a mellow skin arises from a free cir- 
culation of the vascular system through the meshwork of the 
cellular or adipose tissue, or those cells that are destined for the 
reception of fat. These tissues are considered by some alike 
synonymous anatomically. They are always in a moist state, 
from the internal cavity of the cell performing the office of exha- 
lation. Want or supply of interstitial deposit makes a bad or 
good skin. 
The adipose and reticular tissues are extremely vascular, more 
especially that portion in immediate connexion lying under it. 
A good and kindly handler has a full development of this material 
well spread over the superficies of the external frame under the skin. 
The membranous tissue is a bed for the origin of the absorbents, 
and the adipose tissue is the depository in which the fat is de- 
posited by the exhalents peculiar to it. These membranes parti- 
cipate in the character of the hide. They are more dense and 
inelastic, and less expansive. They do not admit of being so 
readily dilated by the interstitial deposit, and consequently are 
longer in acquiring a mature state in the progress of making fat. 
A thick and unyielding hide, not succumbing to the internal 
deposit in the adipose tissue under the skin, is thus continually 
reacting by pressure on the absorbents, and in this manner makes 
the animal slow in accumulating fat on the external parts of the 
frame. The difference in the feel between the glossy and coarse 
haired animal is dependent on the secretion from the cutis. In 
the thick skin it is more inspissated, and exfoliates in branny 
scales. In the mellow and glossy skin it is more oleaginous, 
