A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery / By W. S. Playfair.
- William Smoult Playfair
- Date:
- 1885
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: A treatise on the science and practice of midwifery / By W. S. Playfair. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.
87/708 page 79
![The Mavimaril _Glands.—To complete the consideration of the gener- ative organs of the female we must study the mammary glands, whicli^ secrete the fluid destined to nourish the child. In the human subject!^ they are two in number, and instead of being placed upon the abdomenJ^ as in most animals, they are situated on either side of the sternum, over -^ the pectorales majora muscles, and extencHi'om_the_third to the _sixth ^ rib. This position of the glands is obviously intended to suit the erect ' position of the female in suckling. They are convex anteriorly, and flattened posteriorly wliere they rest on the muscles. They vary greatly in size in diflerent subjects, chiefly in proportion to the amount of adi- pose tissue they contain. In man, and in girls previous to puberty, they are rudimentary in structure, while in pregnant women they increase greatly in size, the true glandular structures becoming much hypertrophied. Anomalies in shape and position are sometimes observed. Supplementary maramse, one or more in number, situated on the upper portion of the raammaj, are sometimes met with, identical in structure with the normally situated glands; or, more commonly, an extra nipple is observed by the side of the normal one. In some races, especially the African, the mammae are so enormously developed that the mother is able to suckle her child over her shoulder. Their Structure.—The skin covering the gland is soft and supple, and during pregnancy often becomes covered with fine white lines, while Fig. 40. 1. Galactophorous ducts. 2. Lobuli of the mammary gland. large blue veins may be observed coursing over. Underneath it is a quantity of connective tissue, containing a considerabk amount of fat. which extends beneath the true glandular structure! Tliis is com])osed of from fifteen to twenty lobes, each of which is formed of a number_of lol>ii]e.s. The lobules are produced bv the aggregation of the terminal acini in which tlie miTir^sformed. The acini are minute culs-de-sac opening into little diicts, Avhich unite with each otiier until they form a large duct for each lobule ; the ducts of each lobule unite with each other until they end in a still larocr duct common to each of thejjfteen or twenty lobes into_whjcl.i the Ldand is divided, and eventually open on the siH^facc of the nipple. These terminal canals are known as tlio (lalado^fihoroiiH ducts. (Fig- 40). They become widely dilated as lluy a|)i)roach tha.jilpple, so as toi()rm rescrvojrs_Jn which milk is siorcj until it is required, but when they actually, enter the nipple they again](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2121072x_0087.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
