CHANGES DURING PREGNANCY 559 



pregnancy, and the eosinophil cells of the glandular lobe are then 

 replaced by large neutrophil cells. 1 



(d.} The Skin. The cause of the increased pigmentation of the 

 skin in pregnancy is little understood. It has been looked on as a 

 simple deposit of pigment, as the result of infection \vith the Microsporon 

 furfur, the cause of pityriasis versicolor which not infrequently 

 attacks pregnant women, and as a subcutaneous haemorrhage. 2 

 Jeannin 3 first suggested that it was derived from haemoglobin set 

 free by the solution of red blood corpuscles. According to Veit * the 

 haemolysis may be produced by the circulation of syncytial elements 

 in the blood. The presence of iron in the pigment, though strongly 

 denied by Truzzi, 5 has recently been demonstrated by Wychgel. 6 He 

 associates its presence with the frequent occurrence of haemoglobinuria 

 in pregnancy. V. Fiirth and Schneider's suggestion that the pigment 

 is derived from tyrosin by the action of a placental tyrosinase is 

 mentioned elsewhere (Chapter X., p. 507). 



An abnormal development of the hair of -the face and body is 

 occasionally seen in pregnancy (Slocum, 7 Halban 8 ). Under the name 

 of dermographismus, Freund 9 describes a phenomenon, often met 

 with in pregnancy, similar to the tache ctrtbrale of meningitis and 

 other nervous affections. It may be elicited even in the early stages 

 of gestation, and is best shown by stroking the skin over the sternum 

 or fundus uteri. 



(e.) The Mammae. The growth of the mammary glands is brought 

 about by the development of new vesicles, the -widening of existing 

 blood-channels, and the formation of new vessels. 10 Even in the first 

 half of pregnancy, and sometimes in the first weeks, the mammje 

 contain colostrum, a milky fluid composed of proteins, albumen, 

 globulin, and casein, the carbohydrate lactose, fat, free fatty acids, 

 lecithin, cholesterin, free glycero-phosphoric acid, and urea (Winter- 

 stein and Stickler u ). 



1 Erdheim and Stumme, Uber die Xch,wangerscluiftsveran<l-ni<i <l- r ll ; i[>ophyse. 

 Ziegler, Reitr. z. pathol. Anat., vol. xlvi., 1909. 



* See v. Winckel's Handbuch der Geburtshiilfe, vol. i., H. 1. 



3 Jeannin, "Observations pour servir ;i 1'histoire du masque des feuinn.'s 

 enceintes," Gaz. ffebdom., 1868. 



4 Veit and Scholten, " Synzytiolyse und Ha'molyse," Zeitsch. f. Geburtsh. n. 

 Gynak., vol. xlix., 1903. 



5 Truzzi, "Ueber die Genese der Hyperchromie der Haut in der Graviditiit," 

 Moitatsschr.f. Geburtsh., vol. xi., 1898. 



9 Freund, "Die Hautbei Schwangeren," Y>Thn,,dl. <L VI. d<>vl*i-h. Darnatofafi />- 

 Kongr. zu Strassburg. 



10 See Chapter XIII. 



11 Winterstein and Stickler, " Die chemische Zusammensetzung des Colos- 

 trums," Zeitsch. f. physiol. Chem., vol. xlvii., 1906. 



