and the branch of the nerve which is thus supplied is called the gustatory, on account

not only enabled to assist in mastication, but it becomes the principal source of enjoyment in the taking of food that is agreeable to the taste. The sense of taste seems given to the animal kingdom with two objects in view-first, as a guard against taking corrosive and injurious substances; and secondly, to secure pleasure during the first stages of the important process of taking food. Although the sense of taste may be injuriously indulged, and thus abused, it has no doubt been furnished to man and the animal kingdom as a source of enjoy

[Diagram of the principal organs engaged in the preparation of food:-a, muscles of the cheek; b, parotid gland; c, muscles of the gullet; d, the larynx; e, the trachea; f, the gullet; g, the left ventricle of the heart; h, the right auricle; i, the left auricle; k, the stomach; 7, the pancreatic duct; m, the gall bladder; n, common duct; o, the duodenum; p, mesenteric glands; q, thoracic duct.]

of its being the part of the nervous system which gives the special sense of taste. Through this organization, then, the tongue

ment. Temperately exercised, its use may be made a source of gratitude to the Creator: whilst abused, there are few indulgences for which man has to suffer more painfully.

The mucous membrane, as well as the form of the tongue, are liable to considerable changes in appearance, indicative of disordered states of the system. It is on this account that the tongue is so constantly examined by the medical man in diseases of the body. Its form and movements will often indicate the general state of the nervous and muscular systems; whilst the appearance of the surface is an index to the condition of the mucous membranes throughout the whole body. Dryness, redness, smoothness, and the amount of white secretion on its surface, are all points from which important conclusions can be drawn, both

with regard to the nature and treatment of disease.

After the food has been thoroughly masticated in the mouth, it is helped forward on its journey to the stomach by means of the tongue. This is done by the masticated food being pressed by the tongue against the roof of the mouth, and the food, formed into a ball, is passed into the cavity at the back of the mouth, called the pharynx. The lower part of the tongue is here made to assist in the process of deglutition. Previous, however, to the food passing into the pharynx, in cases where it requires mastication, it undergoes a process called insalivation. This consists in the mixing with the food of a fluid secretion, which at ordinary times lubricates the mouth, but which during eating is produced in large quantities, called saliva. This fluid is formed in a set of glands called the salivary, of which there are three pairs; the one pair situate under the tongue, another under the lower jaw, and the third in front of the ear (Fig. 8, a). It is these glands which are swollen and inflamed when persons are said to be affected with the mumps. Each of these glands opens into the mouth by a little duct, and during mastication the saliva is poured into the mouth, and mixes with the food. In their minute structure these glands offer a good example of the formation of similar organs throughout the body. The simplest gland consists of a mere pit, sunk as it were in a plane surface of mucous membrane. If we suppose the pit to sink deeper, and become branched on every side, we shall have a tolerably correct idea of the nature of a gland. Fig. 9 exhibits the branched and lobulated character of the parotid gland of the sheep. It is in the lobules, which are of course lined with mucous membrane, that the secretion takes place; it is then conveyed into the little tubes, which terminate in a common duct, opening on a free surface.

The composition and use of the saliva has lately excited a good deal of attention; but it is obvious that however much it may assist in the digestion of solid food, very little of it is taken into the stomach with food that is swallowed without mastication. When saliva is chemically examined, it is found to consist of water, various salts, and a quantity of organic matter called ptyalin, or salivin. The universal presence of this latter substance has led to the conclusion that it plays an important part in the process of digestion. Ptyalin belongs to a class of substances which speedily decompose, and even communicate this property

to other bodies with which they may come in contact. These bodies act, in fact, on substances in the same way as yeast acts when it is placed in contact with saccharine solutions. They produce chemical changes which go under the name of fermentation. It appears, then, not improbable—although it has not been demonstrated — that, the ptyalin of the saliva entering the food, predisposes it to pass into those changes, which ultimately facilitate the process of digestion. The salivary glands are sometimes inordinately excited, and secrete large quantities of saliva. This condition, when permanent, is called salivation. Some medicines have the power of producing this state of the glands. Some act by directly stimulating these glands, as tobacco, mezereon, &c.; whilst others, as mercury, act on them through the constitution. Except produced as remedies for more serious disease, excessive salivation should be avoided. Hence the prac tice of spitting when tobacco is either chewed or smoked, is frequently productive of ill consequences; and attacks of indigestion, and nervous derangement, have been traced to the practice. The flow of the saliva is also, to a certain extent, affected by the mind. The "watering of the mouth," at the sight of things known to be pleasant to the palate, is a fact familiar to the experience of all.

We may now proceed to trace the food in its exit from the mouth. No sooner is the food passed from the tongue into the pharynx (Fig. 8, c), than it is removed from the influence of the will. The muscles that move the jaw-those which line the inside of the cheek (Fig. 8, a),—and those of the tongue, are, to a great extent, under the direction and control of the will; but the pharynx, and gullet, or oesophagus (Fig. 8, cand f), are supplied with muscles which are quite independent of the will, and over the actions of which we have no control. Henceforth we commit the important processes through which our food has to pass before it can be part and parcel of the body, to forces and functions of which we are entirely unconscious.

During the passage of the food into the gullet (Fig. 8, f), two things have to be guarded against. The first is the entrance of the food into the nostril at the back through what is called the posterior opening of the nares, which communicates with the pharynx. The second is the passage of the food into the larynx or windpipe, (Fig. 8, d). The first object is obtained by the formation of the soft palate, which con

sists of a fold or veil of mucous membrane, containing muscular fibres, the lower edge of which hangs free, and has depending from the middle the uvula, which may be seen on looking into the back of the mouth while the breath is taken. On the food passing into the pharynx, this veil of membrane is carried back, and prevents the food from getting upwards into the nose. Should, however, a fit of laughing, or any other cause of a strong expiration of air from the lungs, occur at the moment of swallowing, the soft palate is thrown forward, and the disagreeable effect is experienced of the food passing into the nostrils.

The liability of the food to pass into the larynx is a more dangerous one, not less carefully provided against. At the upper part of the larynx (Fig. 8, d), is a chink called the glottis. The air in breathing passes in and out of this space, in order to pass to the mouth and posterior nares. The membranes constituting the glottis are supplied with nerves which render it exceedingly sensitive to external impressions. A small particle of food and drink falling on it, will excite violent coughing, and sometimes spasmodic closure of the orifice. Yet over this delicate chink, all the food taken into the human system must pass before it arrives at the stomach. Its protection, however, is provided for by the existence of a small, valve-like body, called the epiglottis, which, during the act of swallowing, passes down over the glottis, and effectually closes it against the passing into it of any stray portions of food.

The same causes, however, which sometimes interfere with the action of the soft palate, will also serve to prevent the falling down of the epiglottis; and the consequences to which we have before alluded will take place.

The structure of the gullet, or œsophagus (Fig. 8, f), need not detain us long. It is surrounded by muscular fibres, which assist in propelling the food, and is lined internally with a mucous membrane, which is a continuation of that in the mouth. The gullet opens into the stomach, and both its muscular and mucous structure are continued into this organ; the more particular description of which we must reserve for our next chapter.

POMPOUS funerals and sumptuous monuments are made more out of design to gratify the vanity

of the living, than to do honour to the dead. Greatness may build the tomb, but it is goodness must make the epitaph.

SUNSET IN THE DESERT.

IN the evening, after the labour of the day (says Mr. Layard), I often sat at the door of my tent, and, giving myself up to the full enjoyment of that calm and repose which are imparted to the senses by such scenes as these, gazed listlessly on the varied groups before me. As the sun went down behind the low hills which separate the river from the desert, even their rocky sides had struggled to emulate the verdant clothing of the plain; its receding rays were gradually withdrawn, like a transparent veil of light from the landscape. Over the pure cloudless sky was the glow of the last light. The great mound threw its dark shadow far across the plain. In the distance, and beyond the Zab, Keshaf, another venerable ruin, rose indistinctly into the evening mist. Still more distant, and still more indistinct, was a solitary hill, overlooking the ancient city of Arbela. The Kurdish mountains, whose snowy summits cherished the dying sunbeams, yet struggled with the twilight. The bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle, at first faint, became louder as the flocks returned from their pastures, and wandered amongst the tents. Girls hurried over the greensward to seek their father's cattle, or crouched down to milk those which had returned alone to their well-remembered folds. Some were coming from the river, bearing the replenished pitcher on their heads or shoulders; others, no less graceful in their form, and erect in their carriage, were carrying the heavy load of long grass which they had cut in the meadows. Sometimes a party of horsemen might have been seen in the distance, slowly crossing the plain, the tufts of ostrich feathers which topped their long spears showing darkly against the evening sky. They would ride up to my tent, and give me the usual salutation, Peace be with you, O Bey!" or "Allah, Allwak, God help you!" Then driving the end of their lances into the ground, they would spring from their mares, and fasten their halters to the still quivering weapons. Seating themselves on the grass, they related deeds of war and plunder, or speculated on the site of the tents of Sefuk, until the moon arose, when they vaulted into their saddles, and took the way of the desert.

The plain now glittered with innumerable fires. As the night advanced, they vanished one by one, until the landscape was wrapped in darkness and in silence, only disturbed by the barking of the Arab dog.

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

"Words are the sole expounders of the mind, And correspondence keep 'twixt all mankind." THE English language, like the English people, is derived from various originals. First comes the Celtic, the oldest of our contributors in words. That the great bulk of the inhabitants of the British Isles, prior to the dawn of history, were of Celtic origin, is generally agreed on. Who these Celts were, and whence they had originally come, are questions on which the learned have formed, and still continue to form, different theories.

One of the purest and most genuine dialects of the Celtic now extant is that spoken by the native Irish; from the remarkable agreement between the letters of whose alphabet and those introduced first by the Phoenician Cadmus into Greece, as well as from various religious rites and ceremonies connected with the Druidical system of religious belief, the somewhat plausible theory has been propounded, that the great Celtic branch of the human family was derived originally from the East.

"According to the view," says the "Cabinet History of England, Ireland, and Scotland," ," "of some learned philologers, the very imperfections attributed to the Irish language-the predominance in it of gutturals, and the incompleteness of its alphabet-are both but additional and convincing proofs, as well of its directly Eastern origin as of its remote antiquity; the tongues of the East, before the introduction of aspirates, having abounded with gutturals, and the alphabet derived from the Phoenicians by the Greeks having had but the same limited number of letters which compose the Irish."

However the question be decided as to the origin of the Celts, it is certain that they themselves were found at the dawn of history in possession of the western extremity of Europe. In Gaul and Britain they were discovered by the Romans in such a state of disunion-one of the characteristics of a people divided into petty principalities -as enabled the latter speedily to accomplish their subjugation.

The Romans did not amalgamate so largely with the Britons as to change the characteristics of the latter. They rather despised them-they looked down on them as the first European settlers did on the several Indian tribes whom they subdued. The Romans held the country by military tenure. For the Saxons, com

paratively at least, was reserved the more useful and permanent work of colonizing it, and thereby introducing such improvements as wholly to change the external aspect of the country, and lay the foundation, to a considerable extent, of our modern system of jurisprudence.

The pedigree of our modern English language, too, is traceable to theirs; for whilst we derive many of our English words from the ancient Celtic dialects, the NormanFrench introduced subsequently to the Conquest, and also a great quantity from the Latin, it will be found, on examination, that the great majority of the most ordinarily used words are from an Anglo-Saxon original; and not only this, but that the system of laws constituting our etymology and syntax is Anglo-Saxon in all its essential characteristics.

From the Celtic we derive, as might naturally be expected, a great variety of geographical names for mountains, rivers, valleys, and other natural objects. More recently we have received from the antiquaries a few miscellaneous words, such as

bard," and "druid;' while such as "tartan," "plaid," "flannel," and others, owe their introduction to ordinary occasions. The number of words, however, derived in modern English from a Celtic origin cannot now be properly estimated.

The Celtic itself is so little critically understood, and the probability of the AngloSaxons having originally adopted, whether for convenience or conciliation, many Celtic words, is so strong, as to create a doubt as to whether or not many words, said to be deduced from a Saxon original, are not more radically deducible from the Celtic, from which the Saxon itself might have borrowed them; and, accordingly, many words, some of them certainly not Saxon, have been held to be Welsh, and to have been introduced in this manner.

The Celtic elements of the present English_are_reduced, by Professor Latham, into five classes.

1st. Those that are of late introduction, and cannot be called original and constituent parts of the language. Some of these are the words flannel, tartan, plaid, &c.

2nd. Those that are originally common to both the Celtic and Gothic stock. Some of these are brother, mother, &c.

3rd. Those that have come to us from the Celtic, but through the medium of another language. To these belong the words druid, bard, whose immediate source is Latin, but remote, Celtic.

4th. Celtic elements of the Anglo-Nor