animals

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Next

after the nose come two lips, composed of flesh, and
facile of motion. The mouth lies inside the jaws and lips. Parts of
the mouth are the roof or palate and the pharynx.

The part that is sensible of taste is the tongue. The sensation
has its seat at the tip of the tongue; if the object to be tasted be
placed on the flat surface of the organ, the taste is less sensibly
experienced. The tongue is sensitive in all other ways wherein flesh
in general is so: that is, it can appreciate hardness, or warmth and
cold, in any part of it, just as it can appreciate taste. The tongue
is sometimes broad, sometimes narrow, and sometimes of medium width;
the last kind is the best and the clearest in its discrimination of
taste. Moreover, the tongue is sometimes loosely hung, and sometimes
fastened: as in the case of those who mumble and who lisp.