166 DIGESTION. 



animal made movements of mastication, experienced a gusta- 

 tory impression, and made movements of deglutition, it is by 

 no means evident from this observation, nor from others re- 

 ported by Bernard, that the flow of ttye sublingual saliva had 

 any special connection with the. act of deglu^tion. The ob- 

 servations of Colin on this subject show that^n the domestic 

 ruminants, there is a constant flow of the sublingual saliva 

 during the time occupied in eating. 1 



It has been experimentally demonstrated that the sub- 

 lingual glands may be excited to secretion by impressions 

 made by sapid substances upon the nerves of taste, though 

 the flow is always less than from the submaxillary glands. 

 The great viscidity of the sublingual saliva renders it less 

 easily mixed with the alimentary bolus than the secretions 

 from the parotid or submaxillary glands. 



Fluids from the Smaller Glands of the Mouth, Tongue, 

 and Pharynx. Beneath the mucous 'membrane of the inner 

 surface of the. lips, are small, rounded glandular bodies, open- 

 ing by numerous ducts into the buccal cavity, called the la- 

 bial glands ; and in the submucous tissue of the cheeks, are 

 similar bodies, called the buccal glands. The latter are some- 

 what smaller than the labial glands. Two or three of the 

 buccal glands are of considerable size, and have ducts open- 

 ing opposite the last molar tooth ; and these are sometimes 

 distinguished as the molar glands. There are also a few small 

 glands in the mucous membrane of the posterior half of the 

 hard palate ; but the glands on the under surface of the soft 

 palate are larger and more numerous, and here form a con- 

 tinuous layer. The glands of the tongue (lingual glands) are 

 situated beneath the mucous membrane, mainly on the poste- 

 rior third of the dorsum ; but a few are found at the edges 

 and the tip. All of these are small racemose glands, similar 

 in structure to those which have been called the true salivary 



1 COLIN, Traile de Physiologic Comparee des Animaux Domesliques, Paris, 

 1854, tome i., p. 483. 



