"Perfect as the wing of a bird may be, it will never enable the bird to fly if unsupported by the air..." — Ivan Pavlov

Edible substances evoke the secretion of thick, concentrated saliva. Why? The answer, obviously, is that this enables the mass of food to pass smoothly through the tube leading from the mouth into the stomach.

It has long been known for sure that the sight of tasty food makes a hungry man's mouth water; also lack of appetite has always been regarded as an undesirable phenomenon, from which one might conclude that appetite is essentially linked with the process of digestion.

Appetite, craving for food, is a constant and powerful stimulator of the gastric glands.