246 



MAMMARY GLANDS. 



He refers also to the observations of Buffon 

 on the vesicles of the mamma of the horse, 

 ox, and goat; to those of Von Baer on the 

 vesicles in the mamma of the Delphinus Pho- 

 ccena, to those of Van Hoeven and Vrolik in 

 the same, and in the Balaena rostrata, and of 

 Meckel in the Ornithorhynchus, adding ori- 

 ginal observations and illustrations of his own, 

 which demonstrate the same vesiculated struc- 

 ture in the hedgehog and rabbit. 



During the course of the present year, 1840, 

 the anatomy of the human breast has been des- 

 cribed in a manner by Sir A. Cooper that leaves 

 us nothing to desire, and the minuteness and 

 accuracy of his descriptions are only equalled 

 by the beauty and fidelity of the plates which 

 represent the interesting results of his labours. 

 In our description, therefore, of the human 

 breast we shall do little more than draw from 

 this deep well of instruction. 



Human mamma. The. position of the human 

 mamma; upon the pectoral muscles is too well 

 known to require any detailed account. 



The nipples project forwards and outwards 

 with a slight turn upwards, a direction which 

 is beautifully adapted to the position of the 

 infant when lying in its mother's arms ; and the 

 abundance of the lactiferous tubes at the lower 

 portion of the breast, as will be more particu- 

 larly described hereafter, forms a soft cushion 

 for the head of the child to rest upon. 



" The margins of the breast," says Sir Astley 

 Cooper,* " do not form a regular disc, but the 

 secreting structure often projects into the sur- 

 rounding fibrous and adipose tissue so as to 

 produce radii from the nipple of very unequal 

 lengths, and a circular sweep of the knife cuts 

 off many of its projections, spoils the breast 

 for dissection, and in surgical operations leaves 

 much of the disease unremoved." 



At the age of puberty and for some time 

 after, if the breasts are not called upon to per- 

 form their office, they present to the touch a 

 dense, compact, smooth, and equal surface ; 

 but the distension of the cells in lactation 

 stretches and relaxes the uniting cellular and 

 fibrous membrane, and separates it into " small 

 bodies with indentations around them." This 

 lobulated character does, however, supervene 

 even in childless women upon the cessation 

 of the sexual secretion. 



Following the arrangement of Sir A. Cooper, 

 we shall consider the individual parts of the 

 breast from without inwards. 



The nipple is not placed in the centre of the 

 breast, but nearer the abdominal margin of the 

 gland. In the virgin it is a rounded cone and 

 nearly smooth until puberty, but in the lactating 

 woman forms a flat surface, cribriform with the 

 lactiferous tubes in the centre. "At 16 years 

 it is slightly wrinkled; at 17 it has small 

 papilla: upon its surface ; from 20 to 40 years 

 the papillae are large ; from 40 to 50 the nipple 

 becomes wrinkled; from 50 to 60 the nipple 

 is elongated ; and in old age it usually has a 

 warty appearance." 



This alteration in form during lactation, the 



* Paae 13. 



extremity becoming the broadest part, renders 

 the adhesion of the child's mouth firmer and 

 more complete. 



The nipple or mammilla consists of the com- 

 mon integuments, fascia, milk-tubes, blood- 

 vessels, nerves, and connecting cellular mem- 

 brane. 



The cuticle offers no peculiarities except the 

 processes which it sends into the lactiferous 

 tubes, which may be drawn out after continued 

 maceration. Its extreme delicacy is well known 

 to the medical practitioner. 



Sir A. Cooper states that the rete mucosum 

 " enters with the cuticle into the lactiferous 

 tubes." This may be better seen in the larger 

 quadrupeds, where they terminate a few lines 

 from the extremities of the tubes, forming a 

 fringed edge. 



" Cut is of' the nipple This forms a consider- 

 able portion of the mammilla, and it is divided 

 into two surfaces when the breast is in a state 

 of lactation. 



" The first forms the disc or circumference 

 of the nipple, and the second its broad, flat, 

 truncated apex, in which the terminations 

 of the milk-tubes may be seen in numerous 

 orifices. 



" The disc is composed of a great number of 

 papillae, which produce a vascular and sentient 

 surface, and which form its erectile and highly 

 sensitive tissue. 



" The direction of these papillae is from the 

 base towards the apex of the nipple, so that 

 they are pushed back as the mammilla enters 

 the mouth of the child, and thus greater excite- 

 ment is produced. 



" They lap over the truncated extremity of the 

 nipple, forming a foliage upon its apex. This 

 foliated character is one of the consequences 

 of gestation. 



" They form in their arrangement upon the 

 nipple broken portions of circles, but when 

 the nipple is elongated and dried they appear 

 to be spiral. 



" They form flaps, which are at their edges 

 divided into numerous projections, with serrated 

 depressions between them. 



" They are directed forwards towards the apex 

 of the nipple, and the papillae of the child's 

 lips passing from within outwards, meet them 

 in sucking, are received between them, inter- 

 mix with them, and produce considerable 

 adhesion and sensation. 



" They are very numerous and large for the 

 size of the part, and rather spongy at their 

 extremities. 



" They are very vascular bodies, and I have 

 given a figure of them injected. The minute 

 arteries which pass from the base towards the 

 apex of the nipple send numerous branches to 

 the papillae cutis, which divide into little bushes 

 of vessels in each papilla and terminate in 

 veins. 



" The veins also are very numerous, and they 

 will be seen injected, forming bushes similar 

 to the extremities of the arteries. 



" The application of the child's lips, the draw- 

 ing of the nipple in the motions of the child's 

 head, and the suction produced by its mouth, 



