10 THE SECRETIONS: 



vation. According to Donne, 1 the saliva has an acid reaction 

 in all cases of irritation and inflammation of the stomach, in 

 pleuritis, encephalitis, intermittent fevers, acute rheumatism, 

 uterine affections, and amenorrhoea. Brugnatelli 2 detected 

 oxalic acid in the saliva of a phthisical patient. The secretion 

 of saliva is sometimes increased to an extraordinary degree, 

 constituting salivation; in such cases, the chemical characters 

 of the saliva are also more or less affected. In a specimen of 

 saliva forwarded to me for examination, which was obtained 

 from a patient who had just terminated a course of mercury of 

 some weeks' duration, I observed an acid reaction arising from 

 the presence of free acetic acid. It was very viscid, of a yellow 

 colour, and possessed a sickly, disagreeable, acid smell. It 

 contained no mercury. After evaporation to dryness, all the 

 acid reaction had disappeared : thus showing that it contained 

 no free lactic acid. This saliva contained a very large quantity 

 of semifluid fat, a considerable amount of albumen, and traces 

 of caseous matter. Under the microscope, an immense num- 

 ber of fat-vesicles were seen, some epithelium-cells, and a very 

 few partially-destroyed saliva-corpuscles. 1000 parts of this 

 saliva were composed of: 



Analysis 59. 



Water . . 974-12 



Solid constituents . . . 25-88 



Yellow viscid fat . . 6'94 



Ptyalin with extractive matter and traces of casein 3-60 



Alcohol-extract with salts . . 7-57 



Albumen .... 7-77 



The salts consisted of a largely preponderating amount of 

 the chlorides of sodium and potassium, associated with the 

 lactates of soda and potash, and with a small quantity of the 

 earthy phosphates. On contrasting this saliva with the normal 

 fluid, we are struck with its large amount of solid constituents, 

 arising not from any increase of the ptyalin, but of the fat, the 

 extractive matters, the albumen, and the salts. 



[L'Heretier gives the mean of three analyses of this secretion 

 during mercurial ptyalism. He found : 



1 Arch. Gener. de Med. 1835, May. 



2 Stark. Allgemeine Pathologie, p. 1074. 



