162 ORGANISED FLUIDS. 



fact of their solubility, however, seems to me to be difficult 

 to verify ; and from observations which I have made, I can- 

 not help thinking that this point is scarcely as yet esta- 

 blished. Certain it is that corpuscles larger than mucous 

 globules, and in every way similar to the colostrum cor- 

 puscles, save that traces of nuclei may be detected in them, 

 appear in colostrum treated with ether. 



The " Corps granuleux " are insoluble in the alkalies *, 

 are coloured brown by iodine, and the substance which unites 

 these granules is dissolved by acetic acid, f 



The state of the milk just described does not continue 

 without alteration, each condition which has been alluded to 

 undergoing a daily modification : thus the milk globules from 

 day to day acquire greater uniformity of size and shape, they 

 no longer adhere together, but float freely and singly in the 

 serum, which does not become viscid on the addition of am- 

 monia, the smaller dust-like globules also altogether disap- 

 pearing; at the same time the number of the colostrum 

 corpuscles diminishes until at length none exist. (See 

 Plate XIV. fig. I.) 



These several changes are all accomplished in the course of 

 a few days, so that by the end of the twenty-fourth day, the 

 milk has usually entirely passed from the condition of colos- 

 trum, and presents only its ordinary characters. The colostrum, 

 however, does not always pass through its various modifi- 

 cations in the time specified, it may do so in either a shorter 

 or a longer period than that stated : thus the existence of the 

 milk in the form of colostrum can scarcely be regarded as 

 affording any very certain test whereby the age of the milk 

 may be determined. 



The colostrum corpuscles would appear to be almost pecu- 

 liar to the human subject, for while their presence in the 

 milk of woman is almost constant, their occurrence in that of 

 animals, as the cow, the ass, and the goat, is rare and excep- 

 tional. 



Professor Nasse states that they disappear sooner in women 



* Donne, loc. cit. p. 401. f Henle, loc. cit. t. vii. p. 525. 



