OF THE MOUTH. 279 



nerves ; which are only an enlargement or prolon- 

 gation of those nerves w^hich in man go to the lips. 

 Nay, we may state a fact, perhaps unexpected to 

 the reader, that the whiskers of animals of the cat 

 tribe have entering into their roots branches of 

 the same nerve which gives sensibility to the lips ; 

 and the palpa and tentacula in the lower classes 

 of animals, as the Crustacea and insects, however 

 different these organs may appear, are known to 

 belong to this order of parts, by the same proofs, 

 their supply of nerves. 



We might be tempted here to speak of the bills 

 of birds, had they not already attracted the atten- 

 tion of our author. We shall, therefore, rather 

 fortify his conclusions by attention to the structure 

 of the tongue. The human tongue is, no doubt, 

 the most admirable of all the organs. We might 

 have very obvious proofs of intention and adapta- 

 tion in the long rough tongue of the ox, or in the 

 still more curious and active tongue of the came- 

 lopard, or in the tongue of the insectivorous ani- 

 mals, the bear, the chameleon, and anteater, or in 

 the variety of curious instruments, darts or saws, 

 sheathed in the bills of insectivorous birds. But 

 we ourselves have an organ, however apparently 

 simple, finer than all these. The human tongue, 

 containing muscular fibres in every possible direc- 

 tion, and round, soft, and mobile, is less admirable 

 as an organ of mastication, of taste, or touch, than 

 as the organ of speech, modulating with every 

 possible variety the sounds issuing from the wind- 



