SECRETION. 



465 



When the child is applied to the breast, a 

 sudden turgescence is experienced in the 

 organ, known to nurses as "the draught:" 

 this is probably due to an increased afflux of 

 blood, produced by the mental state, as in 

 ordinary blushing. The " draught " will often 

 take place, and the secretion begin to flow 

 spontaneously from the ducts, at the mere 

 sight of the infant, or at the thought of him 

 when absent, especially if this be associated 

 with the idea of nursing. Analogous phenom- 

 ena are observed in domesticated Mammalia. 

 Thus a good milch-cow will yield far more 

 at a single milking, than the udder could have 

 contained, so that the secretion must have 

 been rapidly formed during the process. 

 There are certain breeds of cows which will 

 only yield milk when their calves are in sight; 

 and in some instances if a calf should die, its 

 skin is placed over a living calf, the presence 

 of which has the same effect. The most 

 curious instances, however, of the power of 

 irritation of the nipple and of mental emotions 

 to excite the secretion, are those in which its 

 production has long ceased, or has never 

 taken place. Numerous cases are on record 

 in which young women who have not borne 

 children, and even old women past the period 

 of child-bearing, have had such a copious flow 

 of milk, as to be able to act as nurses. In all 

 these instances, the flow appears to have been 

 brought on, in the first instance, by the con- 

 tinued suction of the child, which had been 

 applied to the breast to pacify it ; or by the 

 influence of strong mental emotions, or by 

 both causes combined. It has been lately 

 mentioned by Dr. Me. William*, that the in- 

 habitants of Bona Vista (one of the Cape de 

 Verd islands) are accustomed to provide a 

 wet nurse in cases of emergency, in the person 

 of any woman who has once borne a child, 

 and is still within the age of child-bearing, by 

 continued fomentation of the mammae with a 

 decoction of the leaves of thejatropka curcas, 

 and by suction of the nipple. Still more re- 

 markable proofs of the same influence are 

 furnished by the cases, of which several have 

 now been narrated by credible witnesses, in 

 which males have acted as efficient nurses, f 

 The following, related by Dr. Dunglisonf, 

 is one of the most recent and at the same 

 time most satisfactory upon record ; " Pro- 

 fessor Hall, of the University of Maryland, 

 exhibited to his obstetrical class, in the year 

 1837, a coloured man, fifty-five years of age, 

 who had large, soft, well-formed mammas, 

 rather more conical than those of the female, 

 and projecting fully seven inches from the 

 chest ; with perfect and large nipples. The 

 glandular structure seemed to the touch to be 

 exactly like that of the female. This man 

 had officiated as wet nurse, for several years, 



* Report of the Niger Expedition. 



f See the case described by the Bishop of Cork 

 in Phil. Trans, vol. xli. p. 813. ; one mentioned by 

 Capt. Franklin (Narrative of a Journey to the Polar 

 Sea, p. 157. ) ; and one witnessed by Humboldt 

 (Personal Narrative, vol. iii. p. 58.). 



J Physiology, vol. ii. p. 417. 

 VOL. IV. 



in the family of his mistress ; and he repre- 

 sented that the secretion of milk was induced 

 by applying the children intrusted to his care 

 to the breasts during the night. When the 

 milk was no longer required, great difficulty 

 was experienced in arresting the secretion. 

 His genital organs were fully developed." 

 Corresponding facts are also recorded of the 

 male of several of the lower animals. 



The secretion of milk may be entirely 

 checked by mental emotions, especially those 

 having reference to the offspring. Thus a 

 mother sees her infant in sudden danger, 

 either from illness or accident; the secretion 

 is entirely suspended, and does not return until 

 the child, having been restored to her safe 

 and sound, is applied to the breast. The 

 death of the infant will frequently occasion 

 the sudden and complete cessation of the 

 secretion. The same result will sometimes 

 happen from powerful emotions unconnected 

 with the infant : thus Sir A. Cooper mentions 

 two instances in which the secretion, though 

 previously abundant, was suddenly arrested 

 by terror. It has been observed by medical 

 men who practise much among the poor, that 

 the apprehension of the brutal conduct of a 

 drunken husband will put a stop for the 

 time to the secretion of milk ; the breast feels 

 hard and knotted, and flaccid from the ab- 

 sence of the fluid ; and some time elapses 

 before the proper amount returns. It may be 

 stated, generally, that whilst a tranquil, cheer- 

 ful state of mind has a tendency to increase the 

 secretion, the depressing emotions diminish it. 



The mere increase or diminution of the 

 secretion, from an influence communicated 

 through the nerves, may possibly be accounted 

 for by the influence they seem to exercise 

 over the calibre of the smaller arteries, as 

 shown in the act of blushing, to which "the 

 draught " seems to have considerable resem- 

 blance. But no such explanation accounts 

 for the important fact, that not only the quan- 

 tity but the quality of the milk is changed by 

 mental emotions. Grief, anxiety, fits of anger, 

 or a continual fretfulness, tend to render the 

 milk thin and serous, and to impart to it 

 qualities that excite intestinal irritation, 

 griping, and fever in the child that ingests it. 

 It might be difficult to detect any noxious 

 elements in it by chemical analysis ; but the 

 effect of the fluid upon the delicate system of 

 the infant is a sure indication of their ex- 

 istence. With this knowledge, derived from 

 almost daily observation, we can have no 

 reasonable ground for refusing to credit ac- 

 counts of still more remarkable results pro- 

 ceeding from the influence of mental emotion 

 on the mammary secretion, such as the fol- 

 lowing : " A carpenter fell into a quarrel with 

 a soldier billeted in his house, and was set 

 upon by the latter with his drawn sword. 

 The wife of the carpenter at first trembled 

 from fear and terror, and then suddenly 

 threw herself furiously between the com- 

 batants, wrested the sword from the soldier's 

 hand, broke it in pieces, and threw it away. 

 During the tumult, some neighbours came in 



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