ON THE ORGANIC FUNCTIONS. 475 



627. No secretion so evidently exhibits the influence of the depressing 

 Emotions, as that of the Mammae ; but this may be partly due to the fact, that 

 the digestive system of the Infant is a more delicate apparatus for testing the 

 qualities of that secretion, than any which the Chemist can devise ; affording 

 proof, by disorder of its function, of changes in the character of the Milk, 

 which no examination of its physical properties could detect. The following 

 remarks on this subject are abridged from Sir A. Cooper's valuable work on 

 the Breast. " The secretion of milk proceeds best in a tranquil state of 

 mind, and with a cheerful temper : then the milk is regularly abundant, and 

 agrees well with the child. On the contrary, a fretful temper lessens the 

 quantity of milk, makes it thin and serous, and causes it to disturb the child's 

 bowels, producing intestinal fever and much griping. Fits of anger produce 

 & very irritating milk, followed by griping in the infant, with green stools. 

 Grief has a great influence on lactation, and consequently upon the child. 

 The loss of a near and dear relation, or a change of fortune, will often so 

 much diminish the secretion of milk, as to render adventitious aid necessary 

 for the support of the child. Anxiety of mind diminishes the quantity, and 

 alters the quality of the milk. The reception of a letter which leaves the 

 mind in anxious suspense, lessens the draught, and the breast becomes empty. 

 If the child be ill, and the mother is anxious respecting it, she complains to 

 her medical attendant that she has little milk, and that her infant is griped, 

 and has frequent green and frothy motions. Fear has a powerful influence 

 on the secretion of milk. I am informed by a medical man who practices 

 much among the poor, that the apprehension of the brutal conduct of a 

 drunken husband, will put a stop for a time to the secretion of milk. When 

 this happens, the breast feels knotted and hard, flaccid from the absence of 

 milk, and that which is secreted is highly irritating, and some time elapses 

 before a healthy secretion returns. Terror, which is sudden and great fear, 

 instantly stops this secretion." Of this, two striking instances, in which the 

 secretion, although previously abundant, was completely arrested by this emo- 

 tion, are detailed by Sir A. C. " Those passions which are generally sources 

 of pleasure, and which, when moderately indulged, are conducive to health, 

 will, when carried to excess, alter, and even entirely check the secretion of 

 milk." 



a. The following is perhaps the most remarkable instance on record, of the effect of strong 

 mental excitement on the Mammary secretion ; the event could hardly be regarded as more 

 than a simple coincidence, if it were^iot borne out by the less striking, but equally decisive 

 facts already mentioned. " 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 combat- 

 ants, wrested the sword from the soldier's hand, broke it in pieces, and threw it away. During 

 the tumult, some neighbours came in and separated the men. While in this state of strong 

 excitement, the mother took up her child from the cradle, where it lay playing, and in the 

 most perfect health, never having had a moment's illness; she gave it the breast, and in so 



in a Physiological Treatise yet the Author feels sure that, by his well-judging readers, he 

 will not be blamed for adverting to this subject, or for the introduction of the above quota- 

 tion from a writer, of whom he has no personal knowledge, but whose object must be con- 

 fessed by all to be laudable. There seems to be something in the process of training young 

 men for the Medical Profession, which encourages in them a laxity of thought and expres- 

 sion on these matters, that generally ends in a laxity of action and of principle. It might 

 have been expected that those who are so continually witnessing the melancholy conse- 

 quences of the violation of the Divine law in this particular, would be the last to break it 

 themselves: but this is unfortunately very far from being the case. The Author regrets to 

 be obliged further to remark, that some recent works which have issued from the Medical 

 press, contain much that is calculated to excite, rather than to repress, the propensity ; and 

 that the advice sometimes given by practitioners to their patients is immoral as well as un- 

 scientific. 



