576 
DROPPING AFTER CALVING. 
traction of the walls of the uterus after delivery its vessels are 
closed against the passage of the blood to a very great extent, 
and consequently for a time repletion of all the other vessels 
of the body may be said to exist. Doubtless the rapidity 
with which balance of the circulation is obtained will be in 
proportion to the activity of the several secretory organs, and 
perhaps by none more so than by the mammary glands A 
free secretion of milk, especially charged as it now is with 
colostrum , gives earlier and more complete relief to the vessels 
than would be afforded by any other secretion, milk and 
blood being so closely allied in composition. It is, however, 
to be remembered that this secretion often precedes partu¬ 
rition, and continues until arrested by the apoplectic attack; 
and not only so, but until coma succeeds, and that during the 
.same time all the other secreting glands are apparently in a 
state of activity. Simple repletion of the blood-vessels, under 
such circumstances, would be early removed, and doubtless 
fairly completed by the third or fourth day, not until which 
time , however, will the attack in many instances be found to 
occur. 
With reference to the relationship existing between the 
nervous system and the secretion of milk, it may be affirmed 
that no secretion is so much under the influence of nerve 
force. It is not improbable that science may hereafter 
establish a close connection between an attack of parturient 
apoplexy and the capability of the mammary glands not 
merely to secrete but to freely effect the formation of the 
granulated cells of colostrum , with which the first milk is so 
largely charged. By their free production, it may certainly 
be affirmed that fatty matter is effectively and in a rapid 
manner eliminated from the blood, thus reducing plethora of 
the vessels and changing the character of the fluid, and pro¬ 
bably its action thereby over the entire nervous system. 
The influence of nerve force upon the amount of the lacteal 
secretion is doubtless best seen in the human subject, as is 
that of the character of the secretion itself. Dr. Carpenter, 
in his c Manual of Physiology,’ says : “ Under the influence of 
grief or anxiety the secretion of milk is either checked alto¬ 
gether, or it is diminished in amount and deteriorated in 
quality. The secretion is usually checked altogether by 
terror, and under the influence of violent passion it may be 
so changed in its characters as to produce the most injurious 
and even fatal consequences to the infant.” 
I quote this passage chiefly to show the probability of an 
alteration in the power of the mammary glands in secreting 
the first or colostric milk, as having an important and direct 
