COLOSTRUM. 49 



of casein, had an alkaline reaction, a specific gravity of 1063, 

 and, when allowed to stand, deposited a large quantity of cream, 

 from which a very soft sort of butter was obtained. The fluid 

 retained these properties till ten days before calving ; it then 

 acquired a milder taste, but still contained albumen in place 

 of casein. If Lassaigne had been acquainted with my method 

 of separating casein from albumen by means of boiling spirit, 

 he would, doubtless, have found casein, as I did, in the asses' 

 milk. It was not till five days after calving, that the fluid 

 resembled ordinary milk ; it then had a specific gravity of 

 1035, and contained casein instead of albumen. 



2. Milk immediately after delivery. 



The lacteal secretion immediately after delivery differs from 

 the ordinary milk produced after the milk-fever, and has re- 

 ceived the name of colostrum. In woman I found the colostrum 

 thicker than true milk. 1 It had a dirty light yellow colour, an 

 alkaline reaction, no peculiar odour, but a remarkably sweet 

 taste. 



[Clemm states that the alkaline reaction very soon disap- 

 pears. He has found the colostrum become acid in the course 

 of three hours.] 



According to other observers, it resembles a thin solution of 

 soap and water (Joannide 2 ), with drops of oil on its surface. 

 On examining the colostrum with the microscope, a very large 

 number of fat-globules are seen, some of which are larger than 

 those that occur in ordinary milk, and these are frequently 

 observed clinging to one another ; besides these, there are gra- 

 nulated, yellow, roundish corpuscles, larger than the milk- cor- 

 puscles, which appear to be composed of very minute fat-vesicles; 

 they seem to be peculiar to the colostrum, and were first observed 

 by Donne, 3 who states that they occur in woman's milk till the 

 twentieth day, when the milk loses all the characters of colos- 



1 Die Frauenmilch, &c. p. 51. 



a Physiolog, Mammar. Mulieb. Specim. Halle, 1801. 

 3 Du Lait, et en particulier de celui de nourrices, etc. Paris, 1837, p. 19. 

 ii. 4 



