970 OF GENERATION LACTATION. 



which are very perplexing to the Medical practitioner, though very interest- 

 ing to the Physiological observer. But they also act as powerful motives to 

 the Will ; and when strongly called forth, produce a degree of vigor and 

 determination, which is very surprising to those who have usually seen the 

 individual under a different aspect. But this vigor, being due to the strong 

 excitement of the Feelings, and not to any inherent strength of Intellect, is 

 only sustained during the persistence of the motive, and fails as soon as this 

 subsides. The feelings of Woman, being frequently called forth by the oc- 

 currences she witnesses around her, are naturally more disinterested than 

 those of Man ; his energy is more concentrated upon one object; and to this 

 his Intellect is directed with an earnestness that too frequently either blunts 

 his feelings, or carries them along in the same channel, thus rendering them 

 selfish. In regard to the inferior development of her Intellectual powers, 

 therefore, and to the predominance of the Instinctive, "Woman must be con- 

 sidered as ranking below Man ; but in the superior purity and elevation of 

 her Feelings, she is as highly raised above him. Her whole character, Psy- 

 chical as well as Corporeal, is beautifully adapted to supply what is defi- 

 cient in Man ; and to elevate and refine those powers which might otherwise 

 be directed to low and selfish objects. 



5. Of Lactation. 



807. The new-born Infant in the Human species, as in the class of Mam- 

 malia generally, is supplied with nourishment by a secretion elaborated from 

 the blood of its maternal parent, by certain glandular organs known as the 

 Mammary. The structure of these, which has been thoroughly investigated 

 by Sir A. Cooper 1 and Mr. Birkett, 2 is extremely simple. Each gland is 

 composed of a number of separate glandules, which are connected together 

 by fibrous or fascial tissue, in such a manner as to allow a certain degree of 

 mobility of its parts, one upon another, which may accommodate them to 

 the actions of the Pectoralis muscle whereon they are bound down ; and the 

 glandules are also connected by the ramifications of the lactiferous tubes, 

 which intermingle with one another in such a manner as to destroy the sim- 

 plicity and uniformity of their divisions, although they rarely inosculate. 

 The mamillary tubes, or terminal ducts contained in the nipple, are usually 

 about ten or twelve in number; they are straight, but of somewhat variable 

 size; and their orifices, which are situated in the centre of the nipple, and 

 are usually concealed by the overlapping of its sides, are narrower than the 

 tubes themselves. At the base of the nipple, these tubes dilate into reser- 

 voirs, which extend beneath the areola and to some distance into the gland, 

 when the breast is in a state of lactation. These are much larger in many 

 of the lower Mammalia than in the Human female, in whom their use is to 

 supply the immediate wants of the child when it is first applied to the breast, 

 so that it shall not be disappointed, but shall be induced to proceed with 

 sucking until the "draught" be occasioned (722). From each of these 

 reservoirs commence five or six branches of the lactif&roiAS fnb<'*, each of 

 which speedily subdivides into smaller ones; and these again divaricate, 

 until their size is very much reduced, and their extent greatly increased 

 (Fig. 367). These, like the reservoirs and mam m ilia ry tubes, are composed 

 of a fibrous coat lined by a mucous membrane; the latter is highly vascular, 

 and forms a secretion of its own, which sometimes collects in considerable 

 quantity when the milk ceases to be produced. The smaller subdivisions of 



1 On the Anatomy of the Breast, 1810. 



2 The Disea-es :>i'tho Breast, and their Treatment, 18-30. See also Gitmnuzzi, 

 liivistu Scicntit'. del Akad. de Fisiouritici, ii, p. 38. 



