know how to employ it with such remarkable skill, as to be able to imitate the voices of various birds and other animals with the greatest exactness. The other animals have the sense of taste centred in the fore-part of the tongue; but in man it is situate in the palate as well. CHAP. 66.—THE TONSILS; THE UVA; THE EPIGLOSSIS; THE ARTERY; THE GULLET. In man there are tonsils at the root of the tongue; these in swine are called the glandules. The uvula,[258] which is suspended between them at the extremity of the palate, is found only in man. Beneath this lies a smaller tongue, known by the name of “epiglossis,”[259] but it is wanting in animals that are oviparous. Placed as it is between two passages, the functions of the epiglottis are of a twofold nature. The one of these passages that lies more inward is called the [tracheal] artery, and leads to the lungs and the heart: the epiglottis covers it during the action of eating, that the drink or food may not go the wrong way, and so be productive of suffering, as it is by this passage that the breath and the voice are conveyed. The other or exterior passage is called the “gula,”[260] and it is by this passage that the victuals and drink pass: this leads to the belly, while the former one communicates with the chest.[261] The epiglottis covers the pharynx, in its turn, when only the breath or the voice is passing, in order that the victuals may not inopportunely pass upwards, and so disturb the breathing or articulation. The tracheal artery is composed of cartilage and flesh, while the gullet is formed of a sinewy substance united with flesh. CHAP. 67.—THE NECK; THE THROAT; THE DORSAL SPINE. The neck is found to exist in no animal but those which have both these passages. All the others which have the gullet only, have nothing but a gorge or throat. In those which have a neck, it is formed of several rounded vertebræ, and is flexible, and joined together by distinct articulations, to allow of the animal turning round the head to look. The lion, the wolf, and the hyæna are the only animals in which it is formed of a single[262] rigid bone. The neck is annexed to the spine, and the spine to the loins. The vertebral column is of a bony substance, but rounded, and pierced within, to afford a passage for the marrow to descend from the brain. It is generally concluded that the marrow is of the same nature as the brain, from the fact that if the membrane of exceeding thinness which covers it is pierced, death immediately ensues.[263] Those animals which have long legs have a long throat as well, which is the case also with aquatic birds, although they have short legs, as well as with those which have hooked talons. CHAP. 68.—THE THROAT; THE GULLET; THE STOMACH.