1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



931 



Then we went to a store where they sell overcoats 

 and trunks; and when they were packing: my pur- 

 chases into a new trunk the proprietor came 

 around and asked me it I had a little boy at home. 

 1 said, " Yes, I have the prettiest little boy at home 

 that you ever saw." 



"Oh! yaw," he said, "1 tink dot is so, "and he 

 smote his heart with his hand. "I got sliust dot 

 same kind of leedle poys to my house. Shust de 

 prettiest leedle poys vhat anypoddy ever saw;" 

 and he put his hands on his fat sides and laug-hed 

 aloud. Then lie g-ave me a lot of advertising- cards 

 for my boy. Mahala B. Chaddock. 



Vermont, 111. 



Conlinued Dec. 15th. 



We are very glad, Mrs. Chaddock, that 

 the time finally arrived when ydu made a 

 visit to our good friend Mrs. Harrison. Yon 

 have not told us very much about our Peoria 

 friend yet, but no "doubt you will do so in 

 the next. Your experience in shopping is 

 not so very uncommon, for a good many 

 others have had a similar experience, not in 

 trying on 44 cloaks, but in trading with 

 clerks. As a general rule, however, they 

 are extremely courteous and attentive; in 

 fact, it is their business to be so. 



FUNCTIONS OF SALIVA. 



AND WHAT ARE ITS EFB'ECTS UPON THE STAKCH 

 OF OUR FOOD. 



I^'EITHBR Prof . Cook nor myself am likely to 

 ||Br be charged with writing too hastily when the 

 "IHI reader is reminded that the correspondence 

 ■^ T on the functions of saliva, comprising two 

 letters on each side, has extended considera- 

 bly over two years. On page 564 of Gleanings for 

 1886, in a review of Bees and Bee-Keeping, Prof. 

 Cook says the author's statement— that " our saliva 

 changes starch into sugar— is a strange error." A 

 month later, page H43, I tried to show that, if the 

 food be thoroughly impenetrated with saliva, a con- 

 siderable quantity of soluble sugar is formed be- 

 fore it is swallowed. In March, 1887, page 17!t, the 

 professor replies, and there I intended to let the 

 matter drop. In Gleanings, page 388 of the pres- 

 ent year, Mr. Stachelhausen says, "The saliva is 

 very important in digestion." The professor ap- 

 pears to have become sensitive on this point, for, 

 in his running comments, he immediately replies, 

 " We secrete saliva almost wholly to moisten our 

 food." 



Prof. Cook is sometimes hardly as careful as he 

 should be when presenting the views of other writ- 

 ers. For instance, in his review of Bees and Bee- 

 Keeping he represents the author as saying, " Our 

 saliva is wholly a digestive liquid." What Cheshire 

 does say is, that its '^principal office is to chemically 

 change some part of our food, and notably starch, 

 etc."— a very different statement. Again, on page 

 179, Gleanings, 1887, he says: "Most English au- 

 thors, and Foster with the rest, argue that the saliva 

 may do a part of this work " (changing starch into 

 sugar). Now, what Foster says is this: "Its char- 

 acteristic property is that of changing .starch into 

 sugar," no arguing that " it may do " in this state- 

 ment, nor is there any in the statements of at least 

 some of the other English authors, as will be seen 

 before I have done. With them the question is no 



longer debatable; and when a conclusion has been 

 reached, argument is at an end. 



If Prof. Cook's views in regard to the action of 

 saliva are not yet fully in accord with those of the 

 best authorities, they have been changing in that 

 direction. Before this discussion began he held 

 that it was a strange error to say that our saliva 

 changes starch into sugar. A year ago last March 

 he had progressed so far as to say, " That saliva 

 will change hydrated or cooked starch into sugar, 

 no one doubts "—a very creditable change of opin- 

 ion indeed; but lie immediately adds, " That it does 

 so to any e.xtent, I have not the least idea." And 

 he says, further, "Surely there was little time for 

 change in the mouth." This is the point now in 

 dispute, and 1 propose to show that the starch of 

 our food is changed by the saliva to a considerable 

 extent, and that quite a i)orMon of the change takes 

 place in the mouth. 



Prof. Arthur Gamgee. M D., K. H. S., of Owens 

 College, Manchester, England, says, "This change 

 (conversion of starch into sugar by our saliva) is 

 very rapidly effected. It begins instantly if the 

 starch is already boiled, so that, unless the food is 

 bolted, a considerable quantity of soluble dextrine 

 and sugar is formed before the bolus is swallowed. 

 The presence of food in the stomach is a greater 

 stimulus to the gastric How than its presence in the 

 mouth. The juice Is more rapidly secreted, but 

 still is comparatively poor in pepsin, and still more 

 so in free acid; but after a time, as more food is 

 added, and as the flrstcomiug food begins to be ab- 

 sorbed, the proportion of pepsin is increased. The 

 amylolitic action of the swallowed saliva is gradu- 

 ally checked, and the still unchanged starch re- 

 mains unchanged so long as it remains in the stom- 

 ach {Encyc. Brit., 9th Ed., Art. " Nutrition"). 



J. Milner Pothergill, M. D., of London, England, 

 says, "Starch is digested by the salivary diastase 

 while the food is being chewed in the stomach be- 

 fore and until its contents are acid" {Indigestion 

 and Biliousness, Wm. Wood & Co., New York, page 

 .55). "In man, starch is largely digested by the sali- 

 vary diastase " {ihid., page 41). " As rapidly as the 

 starch is liquetied into soluble sugar it passes 

 through the walls of the stomach, and so does not 

 interfere with the digestion of the albuminoids go- 

 ing on therein " {ihid, page 13). " When the diges- 

 tion is proceeding comfortably and normally, a con- 

 siderable interval elapses before the acidity of the 

 stomach becomes considerable, and during the in- 

 terval the salivary diastase continues active, and 

 has time to accomplish a good deal of work " 

 (Wm. Wood, M. D., F. R. S., author of Lectures on 

 Digestive Ferments, quoted in Indigestion and Bil- 

 iousness, page 13). 



The action of saliva on starch is held to be so im- 

 portant, as a part of the digestive act, that physi- 

 cians condemn starchy food for infants, for the rea- 

 son that the ferment of their saliva is not active till 

 teething begins. Prof. L. Dun(;an Bulkley, M. D., 

 of New York, says, " Many infants receive, in ad- 

 dition to the parent's milk, or perhaps in place of 

 it, diet which is entirely erroneous. A number of 

 infants suffering from imperfect nutrition are 

 found to be taking large quantities of starchy food, 

 such as corn starch, bran, etc., and in many in- 

 stances far too much sugar is given with the food 

 (Paper on Failure of Nutrition in Children, published 

 in appendix to Indigestion and Biliotisness, page 313). 

 In this he agrees with Dr. J. Milner Foihergill, who 



