AXIMAL FLU ID 8, |4S^ 



From .th€>sc expcrli^ciits we may draw the folUwipf ecu* SsatBwatioxitjf 

 cksioni .• From No. 3. it would seem that the fluid contains ^^^ ^^*^'^' ' 

 albumen j but it appears from Nos. l. 2. 4. 5. and 6. that the 

 albumen is not soluble in water, but in that state in which it is 

 f«und after coagulation. From this we learn that it consti- 

 tutes only 0.8 of a grain in 100 grains of th« fluid. From 

 No. 7. we learn that there is no jellj^ ; from 8.9. and 10. that 

 there is a quanlity of mucus and muriate of soda j and, from 

 .comparing these with each other, we are led to conclude, thst 

 the last substai>pe exists only in small quantity. The compo- 

 sition of the diluted saiiya will therefore be nearly as fol- 

 lows : 



Water 98 



Coagulated albumrai Q 8 



Mucus 1 1 ) The proportion of these 



y.\ 



Salts 1 C is partly conjectural 



100 



It will, I conceive, be admitted, that the albumen in this sa'- 

 Jiva existed in coagulated state. This I consider to be decidv 

 pdly proved f loqi the effects of heat, by its gradual, spontanc 

 pus deposition, and by the ease yyiiU which it was separated 

 by filtration. Still, however, the o^imuriate of mercury and 

 the galls shov/ed that it was albumen. The ^ difficulty of 

 uniting saliva v. ith water, and the effects of filtration, were 

 jioticed by Dr. Fordyce ; * but he imagined that the whole of 

 the animal matter was removed by the process. The saliva 

 that I employed manifested slightly acid properties : Hovyr 

 far this may be tne case in general, I am unable to decide. 

 JiaWcY thinks that, in a state of perfect health, the saliva is 

 jpot acid ; but, at the same time, he quotes a number of au-^ 

 thors who are of a contrary opinion, t M. Hapell de la 

 Chenaie informs us, that the saliva of the horse is alkaline. | 



The quantity of water contained in the saliva, as discharg- 

 ed from the mouth, is very various. Haller estimates it at 

 about ^ of the whole j but Dr. Fordyce supposes that tV o"'7 

 consists of solid matter. If we take the estimate of Haller» 



* De Catarrho, p. 17. 

 t El. Ph}'3. lib. xviii, sect. 2. § 10. 

 . J Mem. of Med. Soc. for 1780-1, p. 325. 



which 



