88 THE SEX-COMPLEX 



Causal long as the child remains in utero milk will not be 



factors in ^ e ove\ec\ 

 relation to secreiea. 



mammary This, of course, confirms the view, already stated, 



activity and _ 



development, that the stream of nutrient materials, which has 

 reached the foetus in utero by way of the blood-stream, 

 is now directed as quickly as possible to the mother's 

 breasts, in order that the child may continue to subsist 

 on the most suitable food — that which is elaborated 

 for the purpose from the maternal tissues. 



Author's It seems, then, that the actual secretion of milk 



Redirection, is not due to any special hormone — although hormones 

 no doubt are indirectly concerned — or to the removal of 

 some inhibitory substance of fcetal origin, as suggested 

 by Hildebrandt 1 , Lane-Claypon and Starling 2 , and 

 others, but rather to a definite redirection of certain 

 elements in the maternal economy from the placenta to 

 the mammae — a phenomenon almost comparable, indeed, 

 with vicarious menstruation. 



Views of the This idea was somewhat vaguely expressed by the 

 ancients, whose simple observations were not obscured 

 by the mass of conflicting experimental ' information ' 

 at our command. 



Hippocrates 3 wrote : " If in a woman with child, 

 much milk flow from the breasts, it indicates that the 

 fcetus is weak ; but if the breasts be firm, it indicates 

 that the fcetus is in a more healthy state ". 



Celsus 4 states that " The nourishment, which they 

 (mammae) draw to themselves passes from the womb 

 (after parturition) to the breasts ". 



It is highly probable that those hormones which 

 favour the nutrition of the fcetus in utero, subsequently 

 stimulate the secretion of milk. But before we come 



1 Hildebrandt, P., Hofmeister's Beitr. z. Chem. Physiol, u. Pathol., 

 1904, vol. v, p. 1463. 



2 Lane-Claypon, Janet E., and E. H. Starling, Proc. Roy. Soc, 

 Ser. B, 1906, vol. lxxvii, p. 505. 



3 Hippocrates, Sydenham Soc. Transl. by Francis Adams, 1849, 

 vol. ii, Aphorisms, § v, no. 5, p. 747. 



4 Celsus, A. C, quoted by R. Temesvary, Journ. Obstet. and Gyncecol. 

 Brit, Emp., 1903, vol. iii, p, 611. 



