298 INFLUENCE OF EMOTIONS UPON SECRETIONS. 



but they are strongly affected by emotions of the mind. This 

 has been already pointed out in regard to the Saliva ( 190); 

 and it is equally evident in the case of the Lachrymal secre- 

 tion ( 541). In these instances, however, the effect of the 

 emotion is manifested upon the quantity only of the secretion ; 

 in the case of the secretion of Milk, not only the quantity "but 

 quality is greatly influenced by the mental state of the nurse. 

 The more even her temper, and the more free from anxiety 

 her mind, the better adapted will be her milk for the nourish- 

 ment of her offspring. There are several instances now on 

 record, in which it has been clearly shown, that the influence 

 of violent passions in the mother has been so strongly exerted 

 upon the secretion of milk, as almost instantaneously to com- 

 municate to it an absolutely poisonous character, which has 

 occasioned the immediate death of the child. 1 The influence of 

 emotional states upon the Secretions is probably communicated 

 by the Sympathetic system of Nerves ( 461), which is very 

 minutely distributed, with the blood-vessels, to the several 

 glands which form them. 



Nature of the Secreting Process. Structure of the Secreting 

 Organs. 



354. Notwithstanding the different characters of the pro- 

 ducts of Secretion and Excretion, and the variety of the pur- 

 poses to which they are destined to be applied, the mode in 

 which they are elaborated or separated from the blood is 

 essentially the same in all. The process is performed, in the 

 Animal, as in the Plant, by the agency of cells; and the 

 variety of the structure of the different Glands, or secreting 

 organs, has reference merely to the manner in which these, 

 their essential parts, are arranged. The simplest condition 

 of a secreting cell, in the animal body, is that in which it 

 exists in Adipose or fatty tissue ; which is composed, as 

 formerly explained ( 46), of a mass of cells, bound together 

 by areolar tissue that allows the blood-vessels to gain access 

 to them. Every one of these cells has the power of secreting 

 or separating fatty matter from the blood ; and the secreted 

 product remains stored-up in its cavity, as in Plants (VEGET. 



1 See the Author's Principles of Human Physiology, chap. xv. ; and 

 Dr. A. Combe on the Management of Infancy, chap. x. 



