THE MAMMARY GLAXDS 



441 



a 



shrunken alveoli clustered about the termination of an interlobu- 

 lar duct. The lumen of the alveoli, if any, contains no secretion, 

 and that of the ducts, except for a 

 little granular albuminous material 

 and an occasional leucocyte, is empty. 



The connective tissue stroma is 

 much increased in volume, and in 

 places shows a marked infiltration with 

 fat. The alveolar tissue of the mam- 

 mary gland at all times contains wan- 

 dering leucocytes, and many granule 

 cells, both acidophile and basophile in 

 character. C 



With the appearance of pregnancy 

 the gland promptly re-enters a state 

 of activity ; its alveoli multiply ; its 

 connective tissue becomes relatively 

 diminished in volume ; its lobules are 

 reformed and their alveoli finally begin 

 secretion, a process which is heralded 

 by the formation of a granulo-fatty co- 

 lostrum, a rather serous fluid in which 

 are suspended large numbers of colos- 

 trum corpuscles, large spheroidal cells, 

 resembling leucocytes in their general 

 form and in the character of their 

 nuclei, but which possess a broad rim 

 of cytoplasm often containing numbers 

 of fat globules of varying size. Their 

 cytoplasm has also been shown to con- 

 tain neutrophile granules of Ehrlich 

 similar to those of the polynuclear 

 leucocytes (Michaelis *). 



The origin of the colostrum corpus- 

 cles is still somewhat in doubt, though 

 modern technique has gradually dis- 

 credited the theory of their origin from 

 desquamated remnants of the alveolar 



epithelium, and shows them to be more probably enlarged leu- 

 cocytes which have wandered through the alveolar wall and have 



*Arch. f. mik. Anat, 1898. 



FIG. 355. FROM A SECTION OF 

 THE HUMAN MAMMARY GLAND 

 IN THE RESTING CONDITION. 



a, remnants of the glandular 

 alveoli ; 6, duct ; c, connective 

 tissue ; d, adipose tissue. Hema- 

 tein and eosin. Photo, x 10. 



