84: SECRETION. 



food. It is very common, however, for females to become 

 quite fat during lactation ; which shows that the fatty ele- 

 ments of the food do not pass exclusively into the milk, but 

 that there is a tendency, at the same time, to a deposition of 

 adipose tissue in the ordinary situations in which it is found. 

 It is a matter of common experience, that certain articles, 

 such as acids and fermentible substances, often disturb the 

 digestive organs of the child without producing any change 

 in the milk, that can be recognized by chemical analysis. 

 The individual differences in women, in this regard, are 

 very great. 



There are certain medicinal substances which are some- 

 times found to exert a powerful influence in diminishing 

 or even arresting the secretion of milk, but a full consider- 

 ation of these belongs to therapeutics. The same remark 

 applies to the influence of electricity applied directly to the 

 mammary glands. 



The statements with regard to solid food do not apply 

 to liquids. During lactation there is always an increased 

 demand for water and liquids generally; and if these be 

 not supplied in sufficient quantity, the secretion of milk 

 is diminished, and its quality is almost always impaired. It 

 is a curious fact, which has been fully established by obser- 

 vations upon the human subject and the inferior animals, 

 that while the quantity of milk is increased by taking a 

 large amount of simple water, the solid constituents are 

 also increased, and the milk retains all of its qualities as a 

 nutritive fluid. The late observations on this subject, by 

 Dancel, illustrate very fully the unusual demand for liquids 

 during lactation, and their influence upon the mammary 

 secretion. 1 



Alcohol, especially when largely diluted, as in malt- 

 liquors and other mild beverages, is well known to exert an 

 influence upon the secretion of milk. Drinks of this kind 



1 CANCEL, De I 1 influence de Veau dans la production du lait. Comptes rendus, 

 Paris, 1865, tome Ixi., p. 243. 



