It is a very easy matter to prove for one's self that ample saliva is
essential to the most economic and perfect digestion; and also, that no
two mouthfuls of food require the same quantity.
Experiment will be doubly interesting in that it reveals pleasure of
taste in eating that has not before been enjoyed.
The function of saliva in digestion has commonly been understood to be
the lubrication of the food so as to enable it to be swallowed. The
truth is that it is the first and most important solvent necessary to
digestion, the good offices of which are to separate, make alkaline,
neutralise, saponify, and otherwise render the succeeding processes
within the delicate organs of the body as easy as their delicacy
requires, and thus not to strain and inflame them into festering
breeding grounds for the myriads of microbes of diseases which we are
compelled to draw in with every breath of air we inhale.
Drawn into a perfectly clean and healthy organism, some microbes aid
and are a part of life, but taken into a system clogged by dirt and
strained by overwork, these same harmless creatures become agents of
destruction. Bacilli may be either friends or enemies and we have the
choice.
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