MILK. 161 



Corresponding with the outward characters of the colos- 

 trum, there are others indicated by the microscope not less 

 remarkable : thus the larger true milk globules which occur 

 in it are but ill defined, being irregular in form and size, 

 appearing as though they were but imperfectly elaborated, 

 and presenting rather the aspect of oil globules, while the 

 smaller ones are like a fine powder strewn through the serum, 

 and adhering to the surface of the larger globules, which also, 

 in place of floating freely and separately in the serum, are 

 agglomerated together as if held in union by some viscous 

 material. (See Plate XIV. figs. 4 and 5.) 



But besides the state of the ordinary milk globules just 

 described, there are found in the colostrum peculiar cor- 

 puscles of a totally distinct structure : these were first dis- 

 covered and described by M. Donne, who has denominated 

 them " Corps granuleux" 



These corpuscles are mostly several times larger than the 

 milk globules, are less regular in form, although usually 

 more or less spherical in outline, and present a uniformly 

 molecular aspect and a yellow coloration ; the edges of the 

 corpuscles sometimes appear smooth as if possessed of an 

 envelope, at others, their margins are rough, and convey 

 the impression that they are destitute of any external cover- 

 ing. (See Plate XIV. figs. 3 and 4.) Occasionally one or 

 more milk or oil globules are imprisoned in the substance 

 of the corpuscles, which then occupy the position, although 

 they do not discharge the office, of a nucleus. 



Some difference of opinion is entertained respecting their 

 intimate structure : Gueterbock, and probably Donne *, con- 

 ceive that they are furnished with an investing membrane, 

 and therefore that they are veritable cells, while Henle f 

 regards them as masses or aggregations of granules agglo- 

 merated together in an amorphous and mucoid substance ; an 

 opinion in which I concur. 



Donne states that the colostrum corpuscles are soluble in 

 ether, and therefore that they are of a fatty nature : the 



* Cours de Microscopie, p. 401. f Anat. Gen. t. vii. p. 525. 



