Periscope of Medical and General Science in their Relations to Dentistry. [Volume: 2, Issue: 2, September, 1860, pp. 124-129]

126

THE DENTAL COSMOS.

"You perceive, gentlemen, that the submaxillary saliva is ropy and
viscid; properties which vary considerably when one individual is compared to another. It is quite impossible to predict beforehand how great
the viscosity of this liquid will be found to be in given individuals; but,
through nervous agency, these peculiar properties may be increased or
diminished at will. We shall now cut the chorda tympani after its separation from the lingual nerve, and direct a galvanic current through its peripheric extremity; the saliva obtained in this manner will be less viscid
than that which we have already produced by means of gustative impressions.
" (The experiment is performed on the same animal, and meets with perfect success.)
"Another experiment now remains to be performed: we shall galvanize
the sympathetic nerve; and the chorda tympani, being entirely paralyzed
by the operation which has just taken place, the saliva obtained will evidently have been generated under the exclusive influence of the ganglionic
system; an experiment which proves that the sympathetic nerve, entirely
unassisted, is capable of acting upon this gland; how different in this respect is the submaxillary from the parotid I
"(The experiment is successfully performed; the liquid produced is
more viscid than previously, but its amount appears insignificant when
compared with that recently obtained by exciting the motor nerve.)
"You must have been convinced by these experiments, gentlemen, that
the submaxillary gland enjoys a double nervous system-that two distinct
sets of nerves preside over its physiological functions; those derived from
the facial increase the abundance and diminish the viscosity of the secretion, while those which spring from the ganglionic system act precisely in
the opposite direction. These results had already been, in some measure,
made known to you during the protracted study we devoted to the motor
nerve of the parotid gland.
"The influence which the ganglionic system exercises over the submaxillary gland explains the power enjoyed over this secretion by various
causes of excitement acting upon distant parts of the alimentary canal;
thus, for instance, the direct introduction of food into the stomach generally stimulates the flow of saliva from the submaxillary glands; a fact
easily ascertained in animals provided with an artificial opening into the
gastric cavity." —(Med. Times and Gaz., June 2.)
"Salivary Calculus.-At a late sitting of the Academy of Sciences, Dr.
Jules Cloquet gave an account of a calculus extracted by Dr. Burdel, of
Vierzon, from the salivary duct of an infant only three weeks old. On
the third instant, a poor woman called with the little patient upon Dr. Burdel, stating that it could not take the breast, which she attributed to its
being tongue-tied. Upon examination, Dr. Burdel did not discover any
string or ligament under the tongue, but found the sublingual gland so
excessively developed as to raise the tongue considerably from the cavity
in which it lies. He soon discovered, by touching the tumor with his
little finger, that it must contain a hard substance. A slight pressure
brought to light the extremity of the calculus ending in a fine point, and,
after some unsuccessful attempts, he succeeded in extracting it without
any incision, by means of a pair of fine pincers. Dr. Cloquet described
this calculus as of somewhat an egg shape, but ending, as already stated,
in a fine point. Its size was that of a grain of wheat; its color yellow;