50 THE SECRETIONS: 



trum ; I have never succeeded in detecting them after the eighth 

 or tenth day. 



[According to the observations of d'Outrepont, 1 the granu- 

 lated corpuscles usually disappear on the third day.] 



The following analysis represents the composition of 1000 

 parts of the colostrum of a woman. The other analysis repre- 

 sents the average composition of healthy milk, deduced from 

 many observations, and is given in order that the reader may 

 contrast the composition of the colostrum with that of the 

 normal secretion. 



Analysis 63. Healthy milk of the 

 Colostrum. same individual. 



Water . . . . 828-0 887'6 



Solid constituents . . 172-0 112-4 



Fat . . 50-0 25-3 



Casein . . . 40-0 34-3 



Sugar of milk . . 70-0 48-2 



Ash . . 3-1 2-3 



Of the fixed salts, 1*2 were soluble, and 1*8 insoluble in water. 



The chemical differences between the colostrum and the milk 

 are at once obvious ; the former is much the richer of the two 

 in solid constituents, especially in butter and sugar of milk. 

 The absolute quantity of casein is also greater, but the ratio of 

 the casein to the solid constituents is less than in ordinary 

 milk. The salts are also increased ; the aperient property of 

 the colostrum is probably due to the increased quantity of salts 

 and sugar of milk. 



3. Of ordinary milk. 



The ordinary milk of the human female is a white or blueish 

 fluid, and of a sweeter taste than cow's milk. It usually ex- 

 hibits nothing but the milk-globules under the microscope. It 

 has always an alkaline reaction, which it retains for five or six 

 days before it becomes acid. Its specific gravity varies from 

 1030 to 1034 ; the average of a large number of analyses yielded 

 the number 1032. On evaporation, it becomes covered, like 

 every other sort of milk, with a film of coagulated casein ; and 

 when the evaporation has been sufficiently prolonged, it yields 



1 [Neue Zeitschrift fiir Geburtskunde, vol. 10, pp. 1 7.] 



