378 SECRETION. 



As the quantity of colostrum that may be pressed from the mammary glands during 

 the latter periods of utero-gestation, particularly the last month, is very variable, it 

 becomes an interesting and important question to determine whether this secretion have 

 any relation to the quantity of milk that may be expected after delivery. This has been 

 made the subject of careful study by Donne, who arrived at the following important 

 conclusions : 



In women in whom the secretion of colostrum is almost absent, the fluid being in 

 exceedingly small quantity, viscid, and containing hardly any corpuscular elements, there 

 is hardly any milk produced after delivery. 



In women who, before delivery, present a moderate quantity of colostrum, contain- 

 ing very few milk-globules and a number of colostrum-corpuscles, after delivery the milk 

 will be scanty or it may be abundant, but it is always of poor quality. 



When the quantity of colostrum produced is considerable, the secretion being quite 

 fluid and rich in corpuscular elements, particularly milk-globules, the milk alter delivery 

 is always abundant and of good quality. 



From these observations, it would seem that the production of colostrum is an indi- 

 cation of the proper development of the mammary glands ; and the early production of 

 fatty granules, which are first formed by the cells lining the secreting vesicles, indicates 

 the probable activity in the secretion of milk after lactation has become fully estab- 

 lished. 



The secretion of the mammary glands preserves the characters of colostrum until 

 toward the end of the milk-fever, when the colostrum-corpuscles rapidly disappear, and 

 the milk-globules become more numerous, regular, and uniform in size. It may be stated, 

 in general terms, that the secretion of milk becomes fully established and all the charac- 

 ters of the colostrum disappear at from the eighth to the tenth day after delivery. A few 

 colostrum-corpuscles and masses of agglutinated milk-globules may sometimes be dis- 

 covered after the tenth day, but they are very rare. After the fifteenth day, the milk 

 does not sensibly change in its microscopical or its chemical characters. 



Lacteal Secretion in the Newly-Born. 



It is a curious fact that in infants of both sexes there is generally a certain amount 

 of secretion from the mammary glands, commencing at birth or from two to three days 

 after, and continuing sometimes for two or three weeks. The quantity of fluid that may 

 be pressed out at the nipples at this time is very variable. Sometimes only a few drops 

 can be obtained, but occasionally the fluid amounts to one or two drachms. Although 

 it is impossible to indicate the object of this secretion, which takes place when the glands 

 are in a rudimentary condition, it has been so often observed and described by physiolo- 

 gists, that there can be no doubt with regard to the nature of the fluid and the fact that 

 the secretion is almost always produced in greater or less quantity. The following is an 

 analysis by Quevenne of the secretion obtained by Gubler. The observations of Gubler 

 were very extended and were made upon about twelve hundred children. The secretion 

 rarely continued for more than four weeks, but in four instances it persisted for two 

 months. 



Composition of the Milk of the Infant. 



Water , 894'GO 



Caseine 26'40 



Sugar of milk 62-20 



Butter 14-00 



Earthy phosphates 1 -20 



Soluble salts (with a small quantity of insoluble phosphates) 2'20 



1,000-00 



