Le lait maternel comme vecteur des caractères héréditaires dans la pensée médicale antique

Abstract

In a famous chapter of the Noctes Atticae, Aulus Gellius reports the violent diatribe of the philosopher Favorinus against entrusting wet nurses with newborn children. The milk of the mother transmitts hereditary traits. Taking the newborn child away from the mother means excluding him from the family line and it makes him both physically and morally a stranger. Favorinus bases his demonstration on medical doctrines related to the formation of the maternal milk from blood and on the role of the paternal semen in this process. Our enquiry aims to situate within the tradition the ideas which Favorinus refers to and to identify meeting points and divergences. We will see that Favorinus does not contribute to the reasoning of physicians and philosophers, but exploits it according to his point of view, that is the criticism of the contemporary society by the issue of the maternal breastfeeding.

Keywords

• maternal milk
• breastfeeding
• Gellius
• Favorinus
• hereditary traits