The Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of the Salivary Glands
in Man and other Vertebrate Animals. By M. C. L. Bernard.—
Anatomy shows the group of salivary glands as an homogeneous appa-
ratus, of which the different parts are identical in structure. Physi-
ological analysis, on the other hand, teaches that the secreted products
are of different composition. In spite of the mixture of the different
kinds of saliva in the mouth, their functions remain distinct. The
characteristic of the parotid is to secrete for mastication ; that of the
submaxillary for taste; that of the sublingual and buccal for deglu-
tition. We cannot expect to find in birds the homogeneous types of
the parotid and submaxillary glands, because the functions connected
with these two organs, namely, mastication and gustation (taste,) are
wanting. The viscid and glairy secretion which flows from their glands
has nothing in common with the pirotid and submaxillary fluids of
mammalia, but it is identical with that furnished by the sublingual and
buccal glands. Tn mammalia, which masticate hard and dry articles
of food, the parotid attains its extreme development ■ in those which,
as the phoca, live in water, and feed off moist substances, this gland is
atrophied, or absent altogether. The other glands retain their size ac-
cording to the necessity of the functions over which they preside.—
L’ Union Medic ale, 1852.