Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste (gustation), as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels. In humans a secondary function of the tongue is phonetic articulation. The tongue also serves as a natural means of cleaning one's teeth. The ability to perceive different tastes is not localised in different parts of the tongue, as is widely believed. This error arose because of misinterpretation of some 19th-century research (see tongue map).
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Famous quotes containing the word tongue:
“If the tongue had not been framed for articulation, man would still be a beast in the forest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The martyr cannot be dishonored. Every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame; every prison a more illustrious abode.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report what my dream was!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)