Frederick Gymer Parsons and Edmund Owen

“ In the Mammalia the tongue is always movable by means of well developed extrinsic and intrinsic muscles, while papillae and glands are numerous. The filiform papillae reach their maximum in the feline family of the Carnivora where they convert the tongue into ahrasp by which bones can be licked clean of all flesh attached to them. ”

“ Cancer of the tongue is the result of chronic irritation which produces an excessive growth of the scaly covering of the tongue and causes an invasion of the deeper parts of the tongue by the scales. It is more often found in men than women and is usually associated with a hard swelling at one side of the tongue-perhaps near a jagged tooth or at the spot where the end of the pipe-stem approaches the tongue. The nerves of the tongue being caught and compressed in the growth, pain is constant and severe, and the movements during mastication cause great distress. ”

“ Syphilis is often the precursor of lingual cancer, and it is impossible tc say exactly when the syphilitic lesion becomes malignant. In the case of a cancerous tumour of the tongue being so deeply or so widely attached that its removal cannot be recommended, relief may be afforded by the extraction of most, or all of the teeth, by limiting the food to the most simple and unirritating kinds, and possibly by dividing the great sensory nerves of the tongue. ”

“ The veins do not follow the twists of the arteries but run a straight course; for this reason there is often a considerable distance between an artery and its companion vein. Accompanying the veins are the larger lymphatic vessels, though there are no lymphatic glands actually in the scalp. ”

“ Sometimes the posterior primary division of the third cervical nerve reaches the scalp still nearer the middle line behind.
The third layer of the scalp or epicranium is formed by the two fleshy bellies of the occipito-frontal is muscle and the fattened tendon or aponeurosis between them. Of these two bellies the anterior (frontalis) is the larger, and, when it acts, throws the skin of the forehead into those transverse puckers which are characteristic of a puzzled frame of mind. ”

“ As the result of septic infection by an accidental wound, abscess is likely to form beneath the scalp, and if it is left to increase in size unchecked it may detach a large area of the scalp. As soon, therefore, as it is thought that matter is forming beneath the scalp, an incision should be made down to the bone, and provision taken for insuring free drainage. ”

“ The length and laxity of this tissue allow great freedom of movement to the more superficial layers, and it is this layer which is torn through when a Red Indian scalps his foe. So lax is the tissue here that any collection of blood or pus is quickly distributed throughout its whole area, and, owing to the absence of tension as well as of nerves, very little pain accompanies any such effusion. ”