Precocious Lactation, Part 2

Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
by George M. Gould, M.D., Walter L. Pyle, M.D.

(Page 15 of 50)

To Bedor, a marine surgeon, we owe the first scientific exposition of this subject, and a little later Villeneuve published his article in the French dictionary. Since then many observations have been made on this subject, and quite recently Laurent has published a most exhaustive treatise upon it.

Robert describes an old man who suckled a child, and Meyer discusses the case of a castrated man who was said to suckle children. It is said that a Bishop of Cork, who gave one-half crown to an old Frenchman of seventy, was rewarded by an exhibition of his breasts, which were larger than the Bishop had ever seen in a woman. Petrequin speaks of a male breast 18 inches long which he amputated, and Laurent gives the photograph of a man whose breasts measured 30 cm. in circumference at the base, and hung like those of a nursing woman.

In some instances whole families with supernumerary breasts are seen. Handyside gives two instances of quadruple breasts in brothers. Blanchard speaks of a father who had a supernumerary nipple on each breast and his seven sons had the same deformities; it was not noticed in the daughters. The youngest son transmitted this anomaly to his four sons. Petrequin describes a man with three mammae, two on the left side, the third being beneath the others. He had three sons with accessory mammae on the right side and two daughters with the same anomaly on the left side. Savitzky reports a case of gynecomazia in a peasant of twenty-one whose father, elder brother, and a cousin were similarly endowed. The patient's breasts were 33 cm. in circumference and 15 cm. from the nipple to the base of the gland; they resembled normal female mammae in all respects. The penis and the other genitalia were normal, but the man had a female voice and absence of facial hair. There was an abundance of subcutaneous fat and a rather broad pelvis.

Wiltshire said that he knew a gynecomast in the person of a distinguished naturalist who since the age of puberty observed activity in his breasts, accompanied with secretion of milky fluid which lasted for a period of six weeks and occurred every spring. This authority also mentions that the French call husbands who have well-developed mammae "la couvade;" the Germans call male supernumerary breasts "bauchwarze," or ventral nipples. Hutchinson describes several cases of gynecomazia, in which the external genital organs decreased in proportion to the size of the breast and the manners became effeminate. Cameron, quoted by Snedden, speaks of a fellow-student who had a supernumerary nipple, and also says he saw a case in a little boy who had an extra pair of nipples much wider than the ordinary ones. Ansiaux, surgeon of Liege, saw a conscript of thirteen whose left mamma was well developed like that of a woman, and whose nipple was surrounded by a large areola. He said that this breast had always been larger than the other, but since puberty had grown greatly; the genital organs were well formed. Morgan examined a seaman of twenty-one, admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital at Hong Kong, whose right mamma, in size and conformation, had the appearance of the well developed breast of a full-grown woman. It was lobulated and had a large, brown-colored areola; the nipple, however, was of the same size as that on the left breast. The man stated that he first observed the breast to enlarge at sixteen and a half years; since that time it had steadily increased, but there was no milk at any time from the nipple; the external genital organs were well and fully developed. He complained of no pain or uneasiness except when in drilling aloft his breast came in contact with the ropes.

Gruger of St. Petersburg divides gynecomazia into three classes: -

(1) That in which the male generative organs are normal;

(2) In which they are deformed;

(3) In which the anomaly is spurious, the breast being a mass of fat or a new growth.

The same journal quotes an instance (possibly Morgan's case) in a young man of twenty-one with a deep voice, excellent health, and genitals well developed, and who cohabited with his wife regularly. When sixteen his right breast began to enlarge, a fact that he attributed to the pressure of a rope. Glandular substance could be distinctly felt, but there was no milk-secretion. The left breast was normal. Schuchardt has collected 272 cases of gynecomazia.

Instances of Men Suckling Infants. These instances of gynecomazia are particularly interesting when the individuals display ability to suckle infants. Hunter refers to a man of fifty who shared equally with his wife the suckling of their children. There is an instance of a sailor who, having lost his wife, took his son to his own breast to quiet him, and after three or four days was able to nourish him. Humboldt describes a South American peasant of thirty-two who, when his wife fell sick immediately after delivery, sustained the child with his own milk, which came soon after the application to the breast; for five months the child took no other nourishment. In Franklin's "Voyages to the Polar Seas" he quotes the instance of an old Chippewa who, on losing his wife in childbirth, had put his infant to his breast and earnestly prayed that milk might flow; he was fortunate enough to eventually produce enough milk to rear the child. The left breast, with which he nursed, afterward retained its unusual size. According to Mehliss some missionaries in Brazil in the sixteenth century asserted that there was a whole Indian nation whose women had small and withered breasts, and whose children owed their nourishment entirely to the males. Hall exhibited to his class in Baltimore a negro of fifty-five who had suckled all his mistress' family. Dunglison reports this case in 1837, and says that the mammae projected seven inches from the chest, and that the external genital organs were well developed. Paullini and Schenck cite cases of men suckling infants, and Blumenbach has described a male-goat which, on account of the engorgement of the mammae, it was necessary to milk every other day of the year.

Ford mentions the case of a captain who in order to soothe a child's cries put it to his breast, and who subsequently developed a full supply of milk. He also quotes an instance of a man suckling his own children, and mentions a negro boy of fourteen who secreted milk in one breast. Hornor and Pulido y Fernandez also mention similar instances of gynecomazia.