944 INFLUENCE OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



949. No secretion so evidently exhibits the influence of the depressing 

 Emotions, as that of the Mammae; but this may be partly due to the fact, that 

 the digestive system of the Infant is a more delicate apparatus for testing the 

 qualities of that secretion, than any which the Chemist can devise ; affording 

 proof, by disorder of its function, of changes in the character of the Milk, which 

 no examination of its physical properties could detect. The following remarks 

 on this subject are abridged from Sir A. Cooper's valuable work on the Breast: 

 "The secretion of milk proceeds best in a tranquil state of mind, and with a 

 cheerful temper; then the milk is regularly abundant, and agrees well with the 

 child. On.the contrary, a, fretful temper lessens the quantity of milk, makes it 

 thin and serous, and causes it to disturb the child's bowels, producing intestinal 

 fever and much griping. Fits of anger produce a very irritating milk, followed 

 by griping in the infant, with green stools. Grief has a great influence on 

 lactation, and consequently upon the child. The loss of a near and dear relation, 

 or a change of fortune, will often so much diminish the secretion of milk as to 

 render adventitious aid necessary for the support of the child. Anxiety of mind 

 diminishes the quantity, and alters the quality, of the milk. The reception of 

 a letter which leaves the mind in anxious suspense lessens the draught, and 

 the breast becomes empty. If the child be ill, and the mother is anxious 

 respecting it, she complains to her medical attendant that she has little milk, 

 and that her infant is griped, and has frequent green and frothy motions. Fear 

 has a powerful influence on the secretion of milk. I am informed by a medical 

 man who practises much among the poor, that the apprehension of the brutal 

 conduct of a drunken husband will put a stop for a time to the secretion of 

 milk. When this happens, the breast feels knotted and hard, flaccid from the 

 absence of milk, and that which is secreted is highly irritating, and some time 

 elapses before a healthy secretion returns. Terror , which is sudden and great 

 fear, instantly stops this secretion." Of this, two striking instances, in which 

 the secretion, although previously abundant, was completely arrested by this 

 emotion, are detailed by Sir A. C. "Those passions which are generally sources 

 of pleasure, and which, when moderately indulged, are conducive to health, will, 

 when carried to excess, alter, and even entirely check the secretion of milk." 



950. There is even evidence that the Mammary secretion may acquire an 

 actually poisonous character, under the influence of violent mental excitement; 

 for certain phenomena which might otherwise be regarded in no other light 

 than as simple coincidences, appear to justify this inference, when interpreted 

 by the less striking but equally decisive facts already mentioned. "A carpen- 

 ter fell into a quarrel with a soldier billeted in his house, and was set upon by 

 the latter with his drawn sword. The wife of the carpenter at first trembled 

 from fear and terror, and then suddenly threw herself furiously between the 

 combatants, wrested the sword from the soldier's hand, broke it in pieces, and 

 threw it away. During the tumult, some neighbors came in and separated the 

 men. While in this state of strong excitement, the mother took up her child 



placed in a Physiological Treatise yet the Author feels sure that, by his well-judging 

 readers, he will not be blamed for adverting to this subject, or for the introduction of the 

 above quotation from a writer of whom he has no personal knowledge, but whose 

 object must be confessed by all to be laudable. There seems to be something in the pro- 

 cess of training young men for the Medical Profession, which encourages in them a laxity 

 of thought and expression on these matters that generally ends in a laxity of principle 

 and of action. It might have been expected that those who are so continually witnessing 

 the melancholy consequences of the violation of the Divine law in this particular, would 

 be the last to break it themselves ; but this is unfortunately very far from being the case. 

 The Author regrets to be obliged further to remark, that some works which have issued 

 from the Medical press contain much that is calculated to excite, rather than to repress, 

 the propensity; and that the advice sometimes given by practitioners to their patients is 

 immoral as well as unscientific. 



