Saliva

“ Nearly a pint of saliva is furnished every twenty-four hours for the use of an adult. When the food has been masticated and mixed with the saliva, it is then passed into the stomach, where it is acted upon by a juice secreted by the filaments of that organ, and poured into the stomach in large quantities whenever food comes in contact with its mucous coats. ”

“ So the secretion of saliva, which in young children is copiously produced by irritation, and drops from their mouths, is frequently attended with the agreeable sensation produced by the mastication of tasteful food;, till at length the sight of such food to a hungry person excites into action these salival glands ”

“ A preternatural flow of saliva is likewise sometimes occasioned by a disease of the voluntary power; for if we think about our saliva, and determine not to swallow it, or not to spit it out, an exertion is produced by the will, and more saliva is secreted against our wish ”

“ Watch a child take its nourishment in natural manner. The sucking action is like the act of mastication in that it excites the glands which supply fluids to the mouth. Whatever number of these fluids there may be, I will class them all as saliva. Certainly in the case of milk being taken into the stomach, saliva is not needed to lubricate it. It is, therefore, reasonable to suppose that saliva is intended as a part of the mixture necessary to digestion; that is, to the conversion of the food into nutriment. ”

“ We do not chew our food simply to make it fine enough to swallow, but for quite another reason as well. In our mouths there is a fluid called saliva. Think of something that you are very fond of eating, and the mere thought of it makes the saliva come into your mouth. This saliva has a very important duty to perform in connection with preparing the food for the little cells of the body. Each little grain of starch—and you will remember that all vegetable foods are composed largely of starch—has a capsule about it. ”

“ This fluid, called the saliva, is what you feel in the mouth when the mouth waters, as we say. The two largest of these factories are just below your ears. It is these that swell up so much when one has the mumps. These saliva factories do a moderate business generally. Most of the time they only make enough liquid to keep the mouth moist. Sometimes they do not make enough even for this. This is the case when your mouth gets dry, as it is apt to do in fever. When you eat, these factories do a brisk business, for they then have to make a good deal of fluid to mix with the food. ”

“ As the saliva secreted by these glands is most wanted during the mastication of our food, it happens, when the terminations of their ducts in the mouth are stimulated into action, the salival glands themselves are brought into increased action at the same time by association, and separate a greater quantity of their juices from the blood ”

“ The flow of saliva is controlled, to a great degree, by nerves which have their centers in the medulla oblongata. The sight of food, pleasingly served, or even the thought of food which one likes, will increase the salivary flow. ”

“ Hence a psychic event, the eager longing for food, must be accepted as an undoubted excitant of the nervous centre for the salivary glands. On the other hand, the same every-day experience, as well as numerous experiments upon animals, teach us that a number of substances, when brought into contact with the mucous membrane of the mouth, are likewise able to call forth a secretion of saliva. ”

“ The flow of saliva seems partly to arise from a paralysis of the fauces. The animal makes ineffectual attempts to swallow, and breathes spasmodically. By a small dose the anæsthesia would probably be produced, without the other effects. ”

“ The rate at which saliva is secreted is subject to considerable variation. When the tongue and muscles concerned in mastication are at rest, and the nerves of the mouth are subject to no unusual stimulus, the quantity secreted is not more than sufficient, with the mucus, to keep the mouth moist. ”

“ Again, when unconsciousness is 95induced, there is, in many cases, an increased flow of saliva; and although this usually causes no impediment, the patient sometimes keeps making efforts of deglutition which very much retard the inhalation; and, at other times, he holds his breath, with his mouth full of saliva, as if he had some obscure idea of disposing of it in a suitable manner. [56] The delay which often arises from the struggling and rigidity has been already mentioned ”

“ By increased acrimony in all the secretions and excretions of the body. The saliva becomes so acrid by long fasting, as to excoriate the gums, and the breath acquires not only a fœtor, but a pungency so active, as to draw tears from the eyes of persons who are exposed to it. ”

“ This saliva is the first chemical solvent, and is an important factor in the process of digestion. If the food is not retained in the mouth long enough to become thoroughly ground and properly mingled with the saliva, the work of the stomach will be increased. Persons who bolt their food, and wash it down with water or other liquid, thereby dilute the natural juices of the mouth and stomach, impose upon the latter organ a task for which it is not adapted, and throw the entire digestive machinery out of gear. ”

“ The saliva flows in the mouth, the digestive organs begin their natural functions, and, while our sensations are purely physical, strangely enough many think this artistic. It is the hunger appetite being appeased, not the æsthetic. ”

“ Is not the secretion of the saliva and gastric juice synchronous? It is highly probable from long habit, the actions of these two sets of vessels become associated; hence, when the stomach and its vessels are irritated, as in nausea, there is always a flow of saliva, though nothing stimulating has been applied to the mouth. The excitement of the vessels of the one seems to keep pace with that of the other; when the nausea is so great that vomiting is just at hand, the flow of the saliva is proportionally increased ”

“ Of all fluids and excretions of the human body the saliva is perhaps used most often in ancient and medieval medicine, as the custom of spitting once or thrice in administering other remedies or performing ceremonies goes to prove. The spittle of a fasting person is the more efficacious. In a chapter devoted particularly to the properties of human [Pg 83] saliva Pliny lists many diseases and woes which it alleviates. [352] In this connection he makes the following absurd assertion which he nevertheless declares is easily tested by experiment. ”

“ For him, the three great fluids of the body were the saliva, the pancreatic fluid, and the bile, while health consisted in the undisturbed performance in the body of the process of fermentation; and the saliva was supposed to give rise to hectic fevers, because such manifest exacerbation after eating. Stereotyped theory and equally stereotyped therapeutics gained for him, for a short time, a large following, but later raised numerous opponents, who alleged that his system caused as many human lives as the whole thirty years' war. ”

“ MasticationIn order to get full value from food we must masticate it thoroughly. Digestion begins in the mouth with the action of the saliva, hence the necessity of thorough chewing. If the saliva is thoroughly mixed with the food, salivary digestion continues for some time in the stomach. ”

“ When a child hits his head against a hard object, he at once applies his own saliva on the painful spot to prevent a lump from being formed, repeating, ' This is parent's saliva, this is parent's saliva,' thus showing the reverent belief in the efficacy of his parent's saliva. ”

“ Let a salivary gland be stimulated chemically, mechanically, electrically or in any other way, there always follows the same specific action—a secretion of saliva, no matter what be the kind of stimulus acting upon it, the liver-cell always reacts by producing bile, and so on. On the other hand, one and the same stimulus—the electric current, for example—gives in each form of living substance a specific result: twitching in the muscle, secretion of saliva in the salivary gland, production of bile in the liver-cell, &c. ”

“ Because their food passes through the stomach, only half digested—affording but a scanty supply of real nourishment; and 2. Their saliva is, against the order of Nature, constantly determined to other emunctories, so that it will, sooner or later, produce cutaneous, and painful diseases. ”

“ Therefore, if our reasoning is sound, and blood and saliva are both vehicles containing the element of life, we ought to find saliva being used occasionally in place of blood, and playing the same rôle under similar circumstances. ”

“ If the inflammation is acute, the mouth is dry and parched, or as is more frequently the case, the flow of saliva is abundant and acrid, and, when swallowed, irritates the stomach and bowels, producing fever, diarrhea, griping pains, and flatulency. The tongue is either coated white or red, and is glossy, and the sense of taste is considerably impaired. Digestion and nutrition are then disturbed, and the patient becomes rapidly emaciated. ”

“ A horse kept on perfectly dry food gives out a far greater quantity than when the food is moistened. Experiments on the dog and rabbit supplied similar results; and, extraordinary as it may appear, the gland will secrete saliva in the course of an hour weighing eight or ten times as much as its own tissue. A striking example this of the rapidity with which saliva can be separated from the blood under certain circumstances, and of the fallacy of founding conclusions on the quantity secreted within the twenty-four hours. ”

“ When hot spicy food is taken into the mouth, the secretion of saliva is immensely increased, obviously for the purpose of diluting the excess of stimulant before it shall be allowed to reach the stomach. But when the food is of a mild and unirritating quality, much dilution is unnecessary, and the secretion is accordingly moderate. ”

“ You rush over and for one hour you try to put out the flames, save some property or someone’s life. Your mind is wholly withdrawn from all thought of food. During that hour your salivary glands secrete just enough saliva to keep your mouth moist, perhaps the heat and labor left your mouth dry. Now you return home and your attention is called back to the food. Again the saliva is formed rapidly, ten or twenty times as fast as while you were fighting the fire. ”

“ Thorough mastication or grinding of the food by the teeth is necessary, while the tongue assists by moving the food about and by mixing it thoroughly with the saliva, a viscid fluid composed of water and salts and having a slightly alkaline reaction. The saliva is secreted by the parotid, sublingual, and submaxillary glands, and serves to soften and dissolve the food and by virtue of its unorganized ferment, ptyalin, to convert starch into sugar. Upon proteins and fats it has practically no digestive action. ”

“ The saliva is secreted in the first compartment of the alimentary canal, which is at the same time the sorting-room of the organism. Much of what enters the mouth may prove in the testing process to be useless, or even noxious, and must either have its deleterious properties neutralised or be completely rejected. The saliva is secreted in the first instance to obviate injurious effects in some way; thus, for example, a strong acid is to a certain degree neutralised, while other corroding substances may be simply diluted, and by mere reduction of concentration have their harmfulness diminished. ”

“ The secretion of saliva can be provoked by much the same agencies as that of the stomach juice, but above all by mastication. This has the greatest effect on the flow of saliva, especially 343when accompanied by good appetite; in fact, we may say good appetite provokes the flow of saliva and mastication maintains it for a long time. We are thus able, by abundant salivation, to aid digestion wonderfully, especially with regard to starchy food, as the diastatic ferment of the saliva assists in transforming starch into sugar ”

“ It constantly stimulates the flow of saliva and certainly aggravates disturbances of digestion during which the sucking habit is likely to be practised. It may lead to thrush or other forms of infection of the mouth. ”

“ We have learned that chewing is not merely a process of cutting our food into such lumps as we can swallow without hurting ourselves; but that the food must be ground up fine and thoroughly mixed with the saliva, that the saliva may reach every particle of starch. ”

“ The mechanical work is done with the jaws and tongue, and the chemical work is performed by the saliva. When the mechanical work is done thoroughly the chemical work is also thorough, and the test for thoroughness is loss of taste. Masticate the food until all taste has disappeared, and then it will be found that the swallowing reflex unconsciously absorbs the food, conscious swallowing, or at least, an effort to swallow, not being called for. ”

“ They do not drink as we do, by applying the cup to the lips. This would be considered a gross impropriety. They pour the water into their months. The reason why they do these things is, because they consider the saliva to be the most filthy secretion that comes from the body. ”