her of papillae distinguished, by their form, into fungous, conical^ and vtt* 

 lous. With the exception of the first kind, these small prominences are 

 formed by the extremities of nerves, surrounded by blood-vessels, which 

 give to these papillae the power of becoming turgid and prominent, and 

 of being affected with a kind of erection when we eat highly seasoned 

 food, or when we long for a savoury dish. The fungous papillae are 

 mostly situated at the remotest part of the upper surface of the tongue, 

 towards its root, and where it forms a part of the isthmus faucium. 

 The pressure with which they are affected by the alimentary bolus, in its 

 passage from the mouth into the pharynx, squeezes out the mucus which 

 lubricates the edges of the aperture, and serves to promote its passage: 

 these mucous follicles, fulfil, in this respect, the same office as the 

 amygdalae. 



The upper surface of the tongue is the seat of taste: it is undeniable, 

 however, that the lips, the gums, the membrane lining the arch of the 

 palate, and the velum palati*, may be affected by the impression of cer- 

 tain flavours. 



It is observed, in the different animals, that the organ of taste is more 

 perfect, according as the nerves of the tongue are larger, its skin thinner 

 and moister, its tissue more flexible,, its surface more extensive, its mo- 

 tions easier and more varied. Hence, the bone in the tongue of birds, 

 by diminishing its flexibility, the osseous scales of the swan's tongue, by 

 reducing the extent of the sentient surface; the adhesion of the tongue to 

 the jaws, in frogs, in the salamander, and in the crocodile, by preventing 

 freedom of motion, render in these animals the sense of taste duller and 

 less calculated to feel the impressions of sapid bodies, than in man, and 

 the other mammiferous animals. Man would, probably, excel all the 

 other animals, in delicacy of taste, if he did not, at an early period, im- 

 pair its sensibility, by strong drinks, and by the use of spices, and of all 

 the luxuries that are daily brought to our tables. The quadruped whose 

 tongue is covered by a rougher skin, discover better than we can, by the 

 sense of taste, poisonous, or noxious substances. We know, that in the 

 variety of plants which cover the face of the earth, herbivorous animals 

 select a certain number of plants suited to their nature, and uniformly 

 reject those which would be injurious to them. 



CXXIX. Is the lingual branch of the fifth pair of nerves, alone sub- 

 servient to the sense of taste ? Are not the ninth pair (almost wholly dis- 

 tributed in the tissue of the tongue,) and the glosso pharyngeal branch of 

 the eighth, likewise subservient to this function ? Most anatomists, since 

 Galen, have thought that the eighth and ninth pair supplied the tongue 

 "with its nerves of motion, and that it received from the fifth, its nerves of 

 sensation. Several filaments, however, of the great hypoglossal nerve, may 

 be traced into the nervous papillae of the tongue. This nerve is larger than 

 the lingual, and is more exclusively distributed to this organ than the 

 fifth pair, to which the other nerve belongs. Havermann states that he 

 knew a case, in which the sense of taste was lost from the division of the 

 nerve of the ninth pair, in removing a schirrous gland. This case, how- 



* Especially the anterior part of the palatine membrane. The naso-palatine nerve, 

 discovered by Scarpa, after arising from the ganglion of Meckel, and going for a 

 considerable distance into the nasal fossx, terminates in that thick and rugous portion 

 of the palatine membrane, situated behind the upper incisors, and with winch the tip 

 of the tongue is in such frequent contact. .-farter'* J\foif. 



