FURNITURE, AND ITS USES. 195 



they are principally designed for breaking down 

 and grinding the material of which the blood is 

 to be made. For the great Author of our 

 frames has so ordered it, that as fast as our 

 systems waste, a feeling arises in us which we 

 call hunger ; and we take much pleasure in 

 gratifying that hunger. But in order to gratify 

 hunger properly, there is a work for the teeth 

 to perform, of which I have just spoken. 



But while the teeth are breaking in pieces 

 our food, the salivary glands, described in 

 another place, are continually secreting and 

 pouring through small tubes into the mouth, a 

 quantity of saliva just sufficient to moisten it, 

 and render it somewhat like pulp. There are 

 also other little glands, under the tongue, which 

 assist in the work. 



SWALLOWING. When the food is beaten fine 

 and moistened sufficiently, it is gathered together 

 upon the tongue, and by a curious series of 

 movements, which I have not room in a work 

 like this to explain, it is pushed along beyond 

 the root of the tongue, to the top of the gullet, 

 or food pipe, whence it is conveyed downward 

 into the stomach. 



