164 ORGANISED FLUIDS. 



gative properties ; these during the first days of the life of the 

 infant are necessary, their continuance cannot but impair its 

 strength and health. 



Recurrence of Colostrum. 



M. Donne has established the interesting fact that milk 

 which has entirely lost the character of colostrum, and which 

 has reached its perfect maturity, may again pass into the 

 state of colostrum at any period during the course of lac- 

 tation. 



Thus the milk which had at one time presented the con- 

 stitution of perfectly formed milk has been seen by M. Donne 

 to acquire gradually that which is indicative of the colos- 

 trum, it becoming viscous, and the globules contained in it, 

 instead of floating freely and singly in the serum, uniting 

 with each other, forming irregular masses, the granular and 

 mucous corpuscles at the same time being present in it in 

 considerable quantities. 



In the instances in which the recurrence has been observed, 

 engorgement of one or both of the mammary glands has usually 

 preceded it. 



When but one gland is affected, the milk of that gland 

 only presents the characters of colostrum, that of the opposite 

 side retaining its usual properties and constitution. 



The recurrence of the colostrum would appear to depend, 

 as a cause, either upon lesion of the mammary gland, or upon 

 a deranged or vitiated condition of the health. 



Influence of prolonged Retention of the Milk on its 

 Constitution. 



M. Peligot has made the observation, important in a prac- 

 tical point of view, that the milk which has been allowed to 

 remain for a long time in the breast becomes thin and watery, 

 an effect which is contrary to that which occurs in reference 

 to most other secretions of the economy, the urine and the 

 bile, the density of which is heightened by retention. 



