The Buccal Secretions. [Volume: 2, Issue: 2, September, 1860, pp. 71-77]

72

THE DENTAL COSMOS.

the saliva. While these may be considered the prominent offices of this
secretion, there are others accomplished by it of no insignificant character;
such for instance as aiding in the enunciation of language. Without the
moistening, lubricating influence of the saliva, how imperfectly, if at all,
would language be uttered I
Again, this product could not be retained in the blood with impunity.
It is necessary, for the health of the blood, that every secretion that nature
designed should be withdrawn, be duly removed by its appropriate
apparatus.
Within the scope of this paper we intend chiefly to consider the buccal
secretions, with reference to the influence upon the teeth, both in a state
of health and disease.
It seems scarcely necessary here to enter into a minute consideration of
these secretions in a state of health; since this has been so often and so
elaborately done already. A few remarks here in regard to the nature,
composition, and elaboration of the saliva, will, however, not be out of
place.
The product usually found in the mouth is denominated mixed saliva.
It consists of the secretions elaborated by the buccal mucous membrane,
as well as by the various salivary glands.
The saliva, as ordinarily found in the human mouth, is an opalescent,
or faintly bluish-white fluid; it is viscid, tenacious, inodorous, and tasteless. After being at rest for a time, it deposits a grayish-white sediment;
this consists principally of epithelium scales; these are not seen in the
fresh saliva, but soon deposit themselves when the fluid is at rest, and
exposed to the air; mucous corpuscles also exist to some extent in the
saliva.
UNMIXED SALIVA.-The products of the different salivary glands
exhibit some variety in composition. The saliva of the same person
under different physiological conditions, will be different in some respects,
and in none more than in specific gravity. Various circumstances will
modify it in this particular; such for instance as the amount and character of the food.
Wright has demonstrated that human saliva is more dense after food
has been taken than when fasting.
The saliva of a healthy man who had lived for a week on a mixed diet
varied in density from 1-0079 to 1'0085, while after a purely animal diet
for an equal time, it varied from 1'0098 to 1-0176; and after a purely
vegetable diet from 1'0039 to 1'0047.
He also remarks that moral emotions, (rather mental emotions,) atmospheric changes, light, sound, etc., exert an influence on the density of the
saliva. In two hundred cases he found the specific gravity of the saliva
to range between 1-0069 and 1-0089.
Pure saliva should be obtained from the ducts of the salivary glands,