580 THE HUMAN BODY 



nipple, and the skin around this forms a colored circle, the areola. 

 In virgins the areolie are pink; they darken in tint and enlarge 

 during the first pregnancy and never quite regain their original 

 hue. The mammary glands are constructed on the compound 

 racemose type. Each consists of from fifteen to twenty distinct 

 lobes, made up of smaller divisions; from each main lobe a sep- 

 arate galactophorous duct, made by the union of smaller branches 

 from the lobules, runs towards the nipple, all converging beneath 

 the areola. There each dilates and forms a small elongated reser- 

 voir in which the milk may temporarily collect. Beyond this the 

 ducts narrow again, and each continues to a separate opening on 

 the nipple. Embedding and enveloping the lobes of the gland is a 

 quantity of firm adipose tissue v/hich gives the whole breast its 

 rounded form. 



During maidenhood the glandular tissue remains imperfectly 

 developed and dormant. Early in pregnancy it begins to increase 

 in bulk, and the gland-lobes can be felt as hard masses through 

 the super jacent skin and fat. Even at parturition, however, their 

 functional activity is not fully established. The oil-globules of 

 the milk are formed- by a sort of fatty degeneration of the gland- 

 cells, which finally fall to pieces; the cream is thus set free in the 

 watery and albuminous secretion formed simultaneously, while 

 newly developed gland-cells take the place of those destroyed. 

 In the milk first secreted after accouchement (the colostrum) the 

 cell destruction is incomplete, and many cells still float in the 

 liquid, which has a yellowish color; this first milk acts as a pur- 

 gative on the infant, and probably thus serves a useful purpose, 

 as a certain amount of substances (biliary and other), excreted 

 by its organs during development, are found in the intestines at 

 birth. 



Human milk is undoubtedly the best food for an infant in the 

 early months of life; and to suckle her child is useful to the mother 

 if she be a healthy woman. Many women refuse to suckle their 

 children from a belief that so doing will injure their personal ap- 

 pearance, but skilled medical opinion is to the contrary effect; . 

 the natural course of events is the best for this purpose, unless 

 lactation be too prolonged. Of course in many cases there are 

 justifiable grounds for a mother's not undertaking this part of her 

 duties; a physician is the proper person to decide. 



