CHAPTER XII 

 THE THROAT AND THE VOICE 



376. The Throat. The throat is the common highway, as 

 it were, through which food goes to the stomach and air to 

 the lungs. 



We have already learned something of the food passages 

 (Chapter VI) and the air passages (Chapter VIII), and 

 we are familiar with the hard palate, the soft palate, the 

 uvula, and the tonsils (Figs. 63 and 69). 



377. The Pharynx. The only way to get a proper idea 

 of the throat is to look into a friend's mouth. First, let 

 the person hold his mouth wide open, facing a good 

 light. Hold the tongue down with the handle of a spoon 

 (Fig. 63). 



On looking directly into the back of the mouth we see 

 the beginning of a passage called the pharynx, which is com- 

 mon to the two highways, or passages by which air and 

 food are taken into the body. If we look at the top, we 

 see the air passage which leads to the nose. The air tract 

 at the top of the pharynx has two outlets, the mouth and 

 the nose. 



Now, if we pull the tongue firmly forward, a little curved 

 ridge is sometimes seen behind it. This is the epiglottis, 

 which, as we already know, is the trapdoor that shuts down, 

 like the lid of a box, over the top of the air passage, or 

 windpipe (Sec. 153). 



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