The alteration in the color of the areola, or circle round the nipple, is a sign much relied upon by some, but is frequently a deceptive one, merely from want of close observation. I have known many females, though frequently mothers, whose breasts always retained the bright rosy color they had previous to marriage; and I have known young unmarried females with the breasts quite dark. The peculiar hue that arises from pregnancy however, is different from anything I ever saw in non-pregnant females; and, though not always to be met with, is, in my opinion, an infallible sign when present. The celebrated John Hunter regarded this sign as an unmistakeable one, and he gave a remarkable instance of it in his lectures. In making a _post mortem_ examination of the body of a young female, he observed this peculiar color, and at once proclaimed her pregnant, _though the hymen was unbroken_. On dissection he was found to be correct--she was four months advanced. If this sign were constant, pregnancy could nearly always be ascertained, but frequently it does not appear. The peculiar color must be seen to be recognized, as it cannot be accurately described; perhaps the nearest approach to it is the shell of a fresh _ripe chestnut_, but it is much darker in some than in others. The dark circle is nearly always more elevated than the rest of the breast, as may be seen by taking a profile view. [Illustration: PLATE XIII. _View of the Breast about the Fourth Month._--_a. a._ The Breast.--_b._ The Nipple.--_c._ The Areola, or part which becomes brown; it is elevated above the rest of the Breast, as may be seen.--_d. d._ The little Tubercles.] Most frequently the breasts do not swell, nor the areola change color, nor the tubercles appear, till about the fourth month, and frequently much later. All these changes in the breast are also liable to become more or less permanent, after the first pregnancy, so that they are of much less service, and less to be depended upon, in all succeeding ones. They also remain, with most females, during nursing, and are therefore not available in those who conceive while they are nursing. On the whole however, these signs, especially in those not previously pregnant, may be pretty confidently relied upon, and will seldom deceive an experienced observer. _The secretion of milk_ is, by most persons, considered a positive sign of pregnancy, but it is not so, for it sometimes takes place in young girls merely from the establishment of puberty, and in some females it always occurs at each monthly period, though they have never been pregnant. Instances have been known of women nursing other people's children though they had never conceived themselves.