THE HEAD. 373 



and cut back through the cheek on the left side between the 

 upper and lower teeth ; continue the cut backwards across the 

 jaw with bone forceps and scissors : turn the left ramus of the 

 lower jaw down, breaking the two rami apart at the symphysis, 

 so as to expose the buccal cavity fully. Wash freely. 



1. The roof of the mouth. 



a. The palate, or median part of the roof, is long and 



narrow, and separates the buccal from the nasal 

 cavity. Its anterior half, the hard palate, is 

 raised into hard transverse ridges, against which 

 the tongue works ; the posterior half, or the soft 

 palate, is smooth and soft, and ends behind in a 

 free notched border, nearly opposite the angle of 

 the jaw. 



b. The upper teeth, comprising the incisors at the 



front of the palate, and the grinders at the sides 

 opposite the junction o£ hard and soft palates, 

 have already been described (p. 311). 



c. The naso-palatine canals, which connect the nasal 



and buccal cavities, open in a pair of grooves 

 running backwards from the small posterior in- 

 cisors, and about an eighth of an inch behind 

 these. 



d. The tonsils are a pair of small pits at the sides of 



the posterior part of the soft palate, near its 

 hinder border. The outer wall of each is much 

 thickened, forming a papilla which nearly closes 

 the opening. 



2. The floor of the mouth. 



a. The tongue is an elongated muscular mass, attached 

 along the greater part of its length to the floor of 

 the mouth, and produced in front into a free 

 flattened tip. 



The surface of its hinder part is hard and 

 slightly elevated ; that of the anterior part is 



