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VII. Observations on the Structure of the Tongue; illustrated by 
Cases in which a Portion of that Organ has been removed 
by Ligature. By Everard Home, Esq. F. R. S. 
Read February 3, 1803. 
Physiological inquiries have ever been considered as deserving 
the attention of this learned Society; and, whenever medical 
practitioners, in the treatment of diseases, have met with any 
circumstance which threw light upon the natural structure or 
actions of any of the organs of the human body, or those of 
other animals, their communications have met with a favourable 
reception. 
The following observations derive their real importance from 
offering a safe and effectual means of removing a portion of the 
tongue, when that organ has taken on a diseased action, the 
cure of which is not within the reach of medicine; and, as 
the tongue, like many other glandular structures, is liable to be 
affected by cancer, it becomes of no small importance that the 
fact should be generally known. In a physiological view, they 
tend to show, that the internal structure of the tongue is not of 
that delicate and sensible nature which, from its being the organ 
of taste, we should be led to imagine. 
The tongue is made up of fasciculi of muscular fibres, with 
an intermediate substance met with in no other part of the 
body, and a vast number of small glands ; it has large nerves 
passing through it ; and the tip possesses great sensibility, fitting 
it for the purpose of taste. 
