TONGUE. 



or fixth year, loft his whole tongue by gangrene, or putre- 

 fa(ftion ; yet, notwithftanding, performed in perfeftion the 

 five aftions belonging to the tongue, 'viz. fpeaking, tailing, 

 fpitting, chewing, and fwallowing ; nature having, with in- 

 finite artifice, given a new conformation to the mouth, 

 proper to fiipply the want of the laft organ. See Jac. Ro- 

 landi Agloffiomographia, five Defcnptio Oris fine Lingua 

 quod perfefte loquitur ct reliquas fuas Funtliones naturaliter 

 exercet ; firlt publiihed in French at Sauirur, in 1630, 

 traiiflated into Latin by Car. Ruygerus, and pubh/hed in 

 the Ephem. German. D. an. 3. 



For fpeech, inltead of the ordinary provifion, the little 

 Seftiy part of the tongue remaining was inflefted in the 

 middle towards the palate, the teeth inverted, and long in- 

 wards, the mufcuh buccinatores eafily contrafting between 

 the dentes molares. In fine, there was a difpofition in all 

 the organs to produce fpeech without a tongue ; for the 

 breath iffuing at the oval aperture of the larynx, was farther 

 broken, and rendered vocal by the inflation of the flefhy 

 body, the motion of the hps, the retrattion of the buccina- 

 tores, the tremulous agitation of the uvula, and the com- 

 motion of the lower jaw. Laftly, bv the inverfion of the 

 teeth, the deprefllon of the palate, the abundance of faliva, 

 and the capacity of the mouth, the found was ftill farther 

 modified and determined, fo as to render it articulate. 

 Habit, too, and the repeated attempts to fpeak at an age 

 when the parts were eafily flexible, had contributed greatly 

 to the diftinftnefs of it. 



For taft^ing, it is evident from this, as well as other con- 

 fiderations, that the tongue is not the only organ of it, but 

 that the palate is alfo a feat of this fenfe. For chewing, 

 the office of turning the meat in the mouth was here per- 

 formed by the lips and cheeks, the mufcles of which re- 

 pelled towards the maxillares fuch parts as in maflication 

 might fall from one fide to the other. For the firil morfel 

 he took, he could only chew on that fide into which he put 

 it with his hand ; the fecond he put in hke manner on the 

 other fide, and thus varied and fupplied each alternately. 

 For fwallowing, the gravity of the food contributed fome- 

 thing to this, which he farther promoted by ftretching out 

 his neck, inclining his head, and drawing back the buccina- 

 tores within his teeth ; all which were feconded by the 

 mouth and fauces being well moiftened with plenty of faliva. 

 In effeft, divers animals, as the tortoife and the crocodile, 

 ftork, &c. fwallow without any tongue ; and fifh, though 

 their tongue is fixed immoveable to their palate. For fpit- 

 ting, it was performed by the lips, aided by the internal 

 contraftion of the mouth, and the retraftion of the buccina- 

 tores over the grinders. 



Roland's inftance was fingular at that time, but a parallel 

 one has been fince obferved in a girl at Lifbon, fifteen years 

 old ; of which an account was given, in 1718, to the Royal 

 Academy of Sciences, by M. de Juflieu. Upon infpefting 

 the mouth of this girl, there appeared nothing in all that 

 part ordinarily pofFefled by the tongue, but a little eminence 

 m form of a papilla, between three and four lines high, in 

 the middle of her mouth, fcarcely perceivable by the eye. 

 Upon prefling this with the finger, a kind of motion of con- 

 traftion and dilatation was perceived in it, which fliewed, 

 that though the tongue was wanting, the mufcles of which 

 it was formed, and which were deltined to give it motion, 

 were neverthelefs there. With the help of thefe fhe fpoke 

 as diftinftly and eafily as if nothing had been wanting : flie 

 diftinguiftied taftes like other people. For maftication, it 

 was chiefly effedted by the motion of the lower jaw, which 

 (he drew nearer to, or farther from, the grinders of the 

 upper, under which the food to be chewed was. In this 



aftion fhe fometimes alfo made ufe of her fingerg, but much 

 more in the aftion of fwallowing, in order to protrude the 

 mafticated food towards the orifice of the Oefophagus, For 

 ■Jrinking, (he performed it like other people, excepting the 

 attention flie employed to prevent the liquor going down too 

 fall ; in order to which (he kept her head a little inclined 

 forwards. Laftly, the aftion of fpitting was fupplied by 

 the mufcles of the papilla, which filled the lower part of her 

 mouth ; thefe rifing almofl; to a level with the teeth of the 

 lower jaw, and the buccinatores approaching towards both 

 jaws, exprefled the faliva, and condufted it to the fphinfter 

 of the lips, from whence the air, driven with violence from 

 the larynx, ferved as a vehicle to expel it out of the mouth. 

 Mem. de I'Acad. Scienc. ann. 1718, p. 6 — 16. Juflieu, 

 loc. cit. p. 7, feq. 



Dr. Mortimer, from a MS. account of the life of the 

 Rev. Mr. Henry Wharton, chaplain to archbiftiop Sancroft, 

 informs us, that he was born with two tongues. Phil. 

 Tranf. vol. xlv. p. 232. 



Tongue, Injuries arid D'tfeafes of. Wounds of the tongue 

 have generally been divided, by writers on Surgery, into 

 longitudinal and tranfverfe. The former rarely happen, 

 and feldom demand any but ordinary treatment. The fame 

 may be faid of punftured wounds of this organ ; cafes 

 which are occafionally met with in praftice. 



The moft frequent wounds of the tongue are thofe which 

 are tranfverfe. They are haidly ever produced by outward 

 means ; but ufually by the teeth, when tlie lower jaw is 

 forcibly and fpafmodically brought againft the upper one, 

 while the tongue is out of the mouth, as fometimes happens 

 in epilepfy and falls upon the chin. In this way, tranfverfe 

 wounds of confiderable extent frequently happen, almofl: 

 feparating, in fome inllances, the apex from the body of the 

 tongue. In fuch cafes, the injury may eafily be converted 

 into a fort of cleft, which may remain for ever afterwards, 

 and more or lefs interfere with the funftions of the organ. 

 This difagreeable confequence is more likely to happen, 

 when no care is taken to keep the oppofite fides of the 

 wound in proper contaft, and hinder them from becoming 

 diftant from each other. 



Hence, certain writers on furgery have recommended all 

 wounds of the tongue to be immediately clofed with a fu- 

 ture ; and Richter, though by no means a conftant advocate 

 for this method, is candid enough to allow, that it has fuc- 

 ceeded in the beft manner, even in cafes where the tongue 

 was bitten nearly through. Anfangfgr. der Wundurzn. 

 b. iii. p. 24. 



The application of a future to the tongue being attended 

 with fome pain and difficulty, a very fimple bandage has 

 been propofed for uniting tranfverfe wounds of this part. 

 (Pibrac, Mem. de I'Acad. de Chirurgie, tom. ix. p. 22. 

 pi. 9. Le Blanc, Precis d'Operations.) Richter main- 

 tains, however, that the invention referred to does not 

 anfwer expeftation. The main portion of it is a httle fort 

 of bag, in which the fore part of the tongue is confined. 

 Thus all motions of this organ forwards, or laterally, may 

 be effeftually prevented ; but the patient is not deprived of 

 the power of drawing it backward, that very aftion, which 

 has a direft tendency to make the fides of a tranfverfe wound 

 feparate from each other. In fome cafes, indeed, as Richter 

 obferves, the apparatus feems rather to do harm. Children, 

 to whom it proves exceedingly irkfome, are made reftlefs by 

 it, fo that they keep moving their tongue and jaw about, to 

 the great irritation and difturbance of the wound. 



Richter further objefts to Pibrac's bandage, that Jt is 

 decidedly unnecefiary ; for, fuch motions of the tongue, as 

 it direAly reftrains, namely, thofe forwards, or to either 



fide, 



