382 METABOLISM IN THE SUBMAXILLARY GLAND. 



sympathetic and the resulting secretion of a saliva of small 

 volume but large content of organic matter cause a loss of 

 solids in the gland which is considerably less marked than 

 that resulting from the abundant secretion excited by stimu- 

 lation of the chorda tympani alone. Finally, the view that in 

 the submaxillary gland proteid metabolism is more or less 

 distinct from the processes of combustion and liberation of 

 energy, accords both with the accepted theory of nutrition in 

 the organism as a whole, and with the hypothesis of Heiden- 

 hain * that the elimination of water and salts and the elimina- 

 tion of the organic constituents of saliva are controlled by 

 different mechanisms. For, on the one hand, in the proteid 

 metabolism of the cells, controlled by the trophic nerve fibers, 

 anabolism occurs to a certain extent coincidently with kata- 

 bolism. The secreting gland tends to remain in nitrogenous 

 equilibrium. On the other hand, the processes controlled by 

 the secretory fibers are apparently performed at the expense 

 of a combustion of carbonaceous material stored within the 

 cells during rest, to become the source of heat and secretory 

 work. 



In conclusion, the writer desires to acknowledge his obliga- 

 tion to Professor Lafayette B. Mendel, both for the suggestion 

 of the subject of this investigation, and for valuable criticism. 



Heidenhain, Hermann's Handbuch der Physiologic, v, pp. 60-51. 



