The Croonian Lecture: Mucin and the protection of the body

I am afraid that many will recognize in the title of this lecture the practised hand of one who is called upon from time to time to produce for a student a vague phrase to describe a thesis, the work for which has yet to be done and the results from which are problematical. I had a motive in being vague, for I wished to be able to talk on somewhat diverse matters which are linked together only by a thin thread of mucin, if I may he permitted to use that word. The term mucin means in this lecture a slimy secretion, the chemical nature of which in most cases is, at best, ill defined. The mucins to be considered are principally those of the alimentary tract, which are mucoproteins, that is, substances containing complex carbohydrates but in which protein predominates.