THE MOUTH AND THE TONGUE 541 



manner with the tongue, a quantity of this pituitary 

 material, which no doubt becomes utilised for like diges- 



o 



tive purposes. The spongy texture of the tongue into 

 which the residual pituitary or tonsillar excretory material 

 percolates, is possessed of a fan-like musculature (Fig. 

 133), arising and radiating from its ossicles and posterior 

 inferior aspect, and inserting itself into the fibrous sub- 

 mucosal structures, which, on contracting, lessens the 

 universal area of the organ, with the result that its fluid 

 and plastic contents are emptied into the cavity of the 

 mouth through its papillary ducts, as the contents of a 

 sponge can be squeezed out by pressure. It, therefore, 

 follows that the act of mastication, which entails a con- 

 tinued contraction and relaxation of the tongue's muscu- 

 lature, must be attended by a fresh act of pituitary 

 excretion on every such exercise, and that synchronously 

 are, therefore, conducted the processes of dental trituration, 

 insalivation, and lingual fur admixture of the food. All 

 which processes must be regarded as absolutely essential 

 in this, the very first stage of digestion and alimentation, 

 for the preparation of the raw materials of that food for 

 the effective action of the succeeding digestive processes 

 and agencies to which they must be subjected, in order 

 to become available for the supply of the nutritive wants 

 of the body. 



The tongue, so regarded, must consequently be classed 

 as a glandular organ^ or rather as the final glandular 

 development in a series of glandular structures known as 

 the pituitary gland, the tonsils, and the tongue, whose 

 chief offices, in this relationship, consist in excreting from 

 the central cerebral organisms the results of neural tissue 

 waste, and in securing the utilisation of these in the 

 process of digestion in the manner, and with the intent, 

 of the other digestive materials poured into the alimentary 

 canal, at its various stages, by the other glandular develop- 

 ments subservient to that process. 



