128 INANITION AND MALNUTRITION 



From the data in this table it appears that there is marked variation in the 

 normal weight of the mammary glands in the rabbit, the average being 0.76 

 per cent of the body weight (range 0.29-1.29). After inanition, the range is 

 equally great (0.186-1.30 per cent), but the average is only 0.58 per cent, 

 indicating that the weights of the mammary gland have decreased relatively 

 more than the body weights. Those refed show a prompt recovery in the weight 

 of the mammary gland, with hypertrophy (as might be expected) in those 

 becoming pregnant. Unfortunately it is uncertain to what extent the weight 

 changes in the gland during inanition are due to loss in the associated fat, 

 rather than to atrophy of the glandular parenchyma. 



In an adult female dog subjected to total inanition for 60 days (see Fig. 33), 

 Falck ('75) noted that the mammary glands were entirely atrophied, the 

 nipples elongated and inelastic. A marked reduction in the amount of milk 

 secretion, with chemical changes including an increased fat content, were 

 observed during starvation in sheep by Barbera ('00) and Barbera and Bicei 

 ('00a); likewise in goats by Lusk ('01, '17). The effects of underfeeding on 

 milk production in cattle have been studied by Eckles and Palmer ('16) and 

 Moehl ('22), who found that normal secretion may continue for a time in spite 

 of a considerable degree of underfeeding. Ultimately there is a decreased flow, 

 with variable changes in chemical composition. Data for human milk secretion, 

 and for changes during partial inanition, are mentioned later. 



The histological changes during total inanition in the active mammary 

 gland of 11 rabbits and 13 guinea pigs were investigated by Meynier ('06, 

 '08). He found that in spite of the marked atrophy of the gland, secretion 

 might still continue, within certain limits, sufficient to maintain the nursing 

 young alive. The atrophy of the gland cells is confined almost entirely to the 

 cytoplasm, and in prolonged inanition there is a marked fatty infiltration. On 

 proper refeeding, this fat decreases in amount, and the gland tends to resume its 

 normal functional structure. Cell division was not observed in the epithelial 

 cells during either inanition or refeeding. 



The effects of inanition upon the mammary gland in young albino rats 

 underfed for various periods were studied by Myers ('19), who found that the 

 development of the mammary glands is thereby retarded, roughly in proportion 

 to the retardation of body weight. When such stunted rats are refed, however, 

 the development of the mammary glands for some time lags behind that in 

 normal rats of corresponding body weight, although later they recover the 

 normal condition. 



Human Mammary Gland. — The atrophy of the mammary gland in the 

 adult human female during starvation has often been observed (Bright '77; 

 Falck '81), the girl of 19 years described by Schultzen ('62, '63) apparently 

 forming the only exception. In the autopsies during the Indian famine, Porter 

 ('89) states that the mammary glands "had shrivelled to such a degree in the 

 emaciated women that their position was only ascertainable by the presence of 

 the nipple. No gland could be seen or felt."' 



The accounts concerning the effects of war famine upon the milk secretion 

 of nursing mothers are somewhat variable. Thus during the siege of Paris 



