448 THE HUMAN BODY 



as Stenson's duct, which crosses the cheek and opens opposite the 

 second upper molar tooth. In the disease known as mumps * the 

 parotid glands are inflamed and enlarged. The submaxillary 

 glands lie between the halves of the lower jaw-bone, near its an- 

 gles, and their ducts open beneath the tongue near the middle line. 

 The sublingual glands lie beneath the floor of the mouth, covered 

 by its mucous membrane, between the back part of the tongue 

 and the lower jaw-bone. Each has many ducts (8 to 20), some of 

 which join the submaxillary duct, while the rest open separately 

 in the floor of the mouth. 



The Fauces is the name given to the aperture which can be seen 

 at the back of the mouth below the soft palate (Fig. 121), and 

 leading into the pharynx. It is bounded above by the soft palate 

 and uvula, below by the root of the tongue, and on the sides by 

 muscular elevations covered by mucous membrane, which reach 

 from the soft palate to the tongue. These elevations are the pillars 

 of the fauces. Each bifurcates below, and in the hollow between 

 its divisions lies a tonsil (7, Fig. 127), a soft rounded body about 

 the size of an almond, composed of lymphoid tissue (Chap. XXII). 



The Pharynx or Throat-Cavity (Fig. 121). This portion of the 

 alimentary canal may be described as a conical bag with its broad 

 end turned upwards towards the base of the skull, and its narrow 

 end downwards and passing into the gullet. Its front is imperfect, 

 presenting openings which lead into the nose, the mouth, and 

 (through the larynx and windpipe) the lungs. Except during 

 swallowing or speech the soft palate hangs down between the mouth 

 and pharynx; during deglutition it is raised into a horizontal posi- 

 tion and separates an upper or respiratory portion of the pharynx 

 fronj the rest. Through this upper part, therefore, air alone passes, 

 entering it from the posterior ends of the two nostril-chambers; 

 while through the lower portion both food and air pass, one on 

 its way to the gullet, 6, Fig. 121, the other through the larynx, d, 

 to the windpipe, c; when a morsel of food "goes the wrong way" 

 it takes the latter course. Opening into the upper portion of the 

 pharynx on each side is an Eustachian tube, g (p. 227) ; so that the 

 apertures leading out of it are seven in number; the two pos- 

 terior nares, the two Eustachian tubes, the fauces, the opening 

 of the larynx, and that of the gullet. At the root of the tongue, 

 * Parotitis, in technical language. 



