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nydus/Miscellanea Curiosa, Vol. 1Public
Page 204 of 441
Table of Contents

Miscellanea Curiosa.

of the eight Salivatory Glands, or two Pair of the four, do supply one of these Juices, and the other four Glands the other. And this seems to be a very good Reason, why they are so planted, and the Orifice of their Ducts so order'd, that the Juice, which is supply'd by one Gland, is discharg'd into the Mouth, very near to the Orifice, by which the Juice of a different Nature is transmitted from another, so that they must necessarily meet and mix together. Thus the Glandulæ Nuckianæ , and Parotides , throw in two different Juices by Orifices, which open into the Mouth very near to one another; and the Glandulæ Maxillares internæ , and Sublinguales , do below supply the same kind of Juices by Orifices, that open so near to one another as to secure the mixture of the two different Juices.

These Glands, I say, do between them afford two divers sorts of Liquors, of such a Nature as are apt to ferment upon their first Mixture, but perhaps more considerably when they come to be digested by the Heat of the Stomach. So that the Colluctation, or Fermentation, which attenuates and concocts the Food in the Stomach, does not ordinarily arise between the Aliment and the Saliva, but between the several Parts of the Saliva it self. And indeed, if the Saliva did not consist of two Juices, whose Nature is in such a manner different, as to render them apt to ferment upon their mixture, it would be very hard to conceive how it should so readily and indifferently serve for the Digestion of all Eatables; how it should ferment with, and dissolve so great a variety of Things, not only of a different, but of a contrary Nature; how it should ferment with Acids as well as Alkalies, digest things that are cold, as well as hot or temperate; some things that are salt, others that are insipid, bitter and sweet, mucilaginous, oily, &c. But if we suppose, that the Fermentation, which

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