COLOSTRUM. 219 



Kollikcr 11 thinks the formation of colostrum the 

 introduction to that of milk. He also thinks that the 

 colostrum may be the product of a degeneration, and 

 thinks that is in part derived from the internal cells 

 of the originally solid rudiments, which are removed. 

 Virchow 12 states that it is the still coherent globule, 

 which results from the fatty degeneration of an 

 epithelial cell. According to Reinhardt 13 they are 

 transformations of the epithelial cells of the mam- 

 mary ducts, the result of a sort of fatty degeneration 

 or regressive metamorphosis, consequent upon the 

 peculiar activity of the mammary gland during preg- 

 nancy. 



When we consider the physiological formation of 

 the milk-globule, as set forth in this paper and else- 

 where 14 by the writer, the relations of the colostrum 

 corpuscle to the milk will be readily noted. In the 

 earlier stages of lactation, and before parturition, the 

 process of the casting forth of these milk-cells is 

 not perhaps so complete as at a later stage. We 

 have at first a tardiness or lack of co-ordination of 

 action between the different cells ; action stimulated 

 by the uterine function is with cells which have been 

 for a long time stationary or in partial rest. There- 

 fore, through an imperfection of process, groups of 

 cells from the same vesicle are forced off in mass be- 

 fore they are ready to become milk-globules. When 

 lactation commences the whole structure of the udder 



11 Human Histology, ii, 279. 



12 Cellular Pathology, p. 376. 



13 Carpenter's Human Phys. p 818. 



i* See the forthcoming Prize Essay of the Nevr York State Ag. Soc. of 1873, 

 " Milk." Also, Ag. of Mass. 1873-4, p. 376. 



