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.
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![contract. Sonictinics they give off lateral l)ran('hes, but, according to Sappev, they do ncjt anastomose with each other, as some anatomists have described. These excretory ducts are composed of connective tis- sue, Avith numerous elastic fibres, on their external surface. Sappey and Robin describe a layer of muscular fibres, chiefly developed near their terminal extremities. They are lined VN^thcoluraim^ tinuous with that in the^acini; and iFis^ by the distensionof its cells with fatty matter, and their subsequent bursting, that the milk is formed. TJie NipjAe.—The nipj^le is the conical i^rojection at the summit of the mamma, and it varies in size in different women. Not very unfre- quently, from the continuous pressure to which it has been subjected by the flress, it is so depressed below the surface of the skin asjo prevent lactation. It is generally larger in married than in single women, and increases in size during pregnancy. Its_ surface is covered with iiumerous papillae, giving it a rugous aspect, and at their bases the orifices of the lactiferous ducts open. Here are also the openings of numerous sebaceous follicles, which secrete an unctuous material supposed to protect and soften the integument during lactation. Beneath the skin are muscular fibres, mixed with connective and elastic tissues, vessels, nerves, and lymphatics. When the nipple is irritated it contracts and hardens, and by some this is attributed to its erectile properties. The vascularity, however, is not great, and it contains no true erectile tissue ; the harden- ing is, therefore, due to muscularcoiitraction. Surrounding the nip])le is_the areoki, of a pink color in virgnis, becoming dark I'rom the develop- ment of pigment-cells during pregnancy, and always remaining some- what dark after childbearing. On its surface are a number of prominent tubercles, sixteen to twenty in number, ^\^'hicll also become largely dcA'elopecl cluring gestation. They are supposed by some to secrete milk, and to open into the lactiferous tubes; most probably they are composed of sebaceous glands only. Beneath the areola is a circular band of mus- cular fibres, the object of which is to compress^ the lactiferous tubes which run through it, and thus to favor the expulsion of their contents. \ The mammae receive their blood from the internal mammary and inter- cqsta]_arteries, and they are richly supplied with lymphatic vessels, wliich open into the axillary glands. The nerves are derived from the inter- costal and thoracic branches^ofJiieJjnichiaL-pifixus^ The secretion of milk in women who are nursing is accompanied by a peculiar sensaliion, as if milk were rushing into the breast, called the draught, which is excited by the efforts of the child to suck and by various other causes. The sym]iathetic relations between the man^inae and the uterus arc very well marked, as is shown in the unimpregnated state by the fact of the frequent occurrence of sympathetic pains_in_the breastin connection with various uterine diseases, and after delivery by the well-known fact that suctTorT produces reflex contraction of the uterus, and even severe~al!er-pains.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2121072x_0088.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
