The Probert Encyclopaedia of Medicine

TONGUE

The tongue is usually flat and moderately extensible. It consists of a network of bundles of striated muscle fibres, fibrous tissue, fat and lymphoid masses, mucous-producing glands, and a covering of mucous membrane. It is an extremely mobile muscle that enables one to taste food, move it around as it is chewed, push it back into the pharynx when swallowing, and is an invaluable aid in speech. It is derived mostly from an outgrowth (tuberculum) in the floor of the pharynx and is connected with the hyoid bone, the epiglottis and the pillars of the soft palate. The tuberculum grows forward and is joined by other tissues from the region, forming this complex muscular organ of many uses.
Research Tongue