102 SECRETION. 



there is probably no difference between the milk of the 

 blacks and of Europeans. 1 



In normal lactation, there is no marked and constant dif- 

 ference in the composition of milk that has been secreted in 

 great abundance, and milk which is produced in compara- 

 tively small quantity ; nor do we observe that difference be- 

 tween the milk first drawn from the breast and that taken 

 when the ducts are nearly empty, which is observed in the 

 milk of the cow. 2 



The influence of alimentation and the taking of liquids 

 upon lactation relate chiefly to the quantity of milk, and have 

 already been considered. 8 



In treating of the influences which modify the secretion 

 of milk, we have already alluded to the effects of violent 

 mental emotions upon the production and the composition of 

 this fluid. The very remarkable case of profound alteration 

 of the milk by violent grief, detailed by Yernois and Bec- 

 querel, is the only one in which the secretion in this condi- 

 tion has been carefully analyzed. The changes thus pro- 

 duced in its composition have already been referred to, 4 the 

 most marked difference being observed in the proportion of 

 butter, which became reduced from 23*79 to 5*14 parts per 

 1,000. 



Colostrum. 



Near the end of utero-gestation, during a period which 

 varies considerably in different women and has not been ac- 

 curately determined, a small quantity of a thickish, stringy 

 fluid may frequently be drawn from the mammary glands. 

 This bears little resemblance to perfectly-formed milk. It 

 is small in quantity, and is usually more abundant in multi- 

 part than in primiparae. This fluid, with that secreted for 



1 COOPER, The Anatomy and Diseases of the Breast, Philadelphia, 1845, p. 

 103, et seq. 



2 See vol. ii., Alimentation, p. 79. 



3 See page 83. 4 See page 86. 



