38 MILK [in 



Colostrum or First Milkings. As a general rule, 

 the milk which the cow gives immediately after 

 calving differs very materially in its nature from 

 ordinary milk. So widely different is it in composi- 

 tion that it is known by a different name, viz. 

 colostrum. This colostrum, or " beastings " as it is also 

 called, is secreted, not merely after calving, but also 



FIG. 9. COLOSTRUM BODIES (x 300). a', Cells with nucleus ; a, cells under- 

 going fatty degeneration ; b, cells containing large drops of fat ; c, cells 

 with a partially destroyed cell membrane ; d, e, and /, cells which have 

 entirely lost the cell membrane ; g, cell masses from the milk canals. 



for a short time before it ; and not only does it differ 

 from normal milk by the very much larger per- 

 centage of total solids which it contains more than 

 twice as much but by the presence in it of bodies 

 not found in normal milk. What is especially 

 characteristic of colostrum is the presence of certain 

 grape -shaped bodies, the so-called colostrum cor- 

 puscles (corps granuleux) (see Fig. 9). These corpuscles, 



