Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine [351]
posterior nares. Gazdar speaks, of a case of persistent neuralgia of one-half of the face, caused by a foreign body in the nose. The obstruction was removed after seven years' lodgment and the neuralgia disappeared. Molinier has an observation on the extraction of a fragment of a knife-blade which had rested four years in the nasal fossae, where the blade had broken off during a quarrel.
A peculiar habit, sometimes seen in nervous individuals, is that of "swallowing the tongue." Cohen claims that in some cases of supposed laryngeal spasm the tongue is swallowed, occluding the larynx, and sometimes with fatal consequences. There are possibly a half score of cases recorded, but this anomaly is very rare, and Major is possibly the only one who has to a certainty demonstrated the fact by a laryngoscopic examination. By the laryngoscope he was enabled to observe a paroxysm in a woman, in which the tongue retracted and impinged on the epiglottis, but quickly recovered its position. Pettit mentions suffocation from "tongue swallowing," both with and without section of the frenum. Schobinger cites a similar instance, due to loosening of the frenum.
Analogous to the foregoing phenomenon is the habit of "tongue sucking." Morris mentions a young lady of fifteen who spontaneously dislocated her jaw, owing indirectly to this habit. Morris says that from infancy the patient was addicted to this habit, which was so audible as to be heard in all parts of the room. The continued action of the pterygoid muscles had so preternaturally loosened the ligaments and muscular structures supporting the joint as to render them unable to resist the violent action of "tongue sucking" even during sleep.
Injuries to the Tongue.--Hobbs describes a man of twenty-three who, while working, had a habit of protruding his tongue. One day he was hit under the chin by the chain of a crane on a pier, his upper teeth inflicting a wound two inches deep, three inches from the tip, and dividing the entire structure of the tongue except the arteries. The edges of the wound were brought into apposition by sutures, and after the removal of the latter perfect union and complete restoration of the sensation of taste ensued. Franck mentions regeneration of a severed tongue; and Van Wy has seen union of almost entirely severed parts of the tongue. De Fuisseaux reports reunion of the tongue by suture after almost complete transverse division.
There is an account of a German soldier who, May 2, 1813, was wounded at the battle of Gross-Gorschen by a musket ball which penetrated the left cheek, carrying away the last four molars of the upper jaw and passing through the tongue, making exit on the left side, and forcing out several teeth of the left lower jaw. To his surprise, thirty years afterward, one of the teeth was removed from an abscess of the tongue. Baker speaks of a boy of thirteen who was shot at three yards distance. The bullet knocked out two teeth and passed through the tongue, although it produced no wound of the pharynx, and was passed from the anus on the sixth day. Stevenson mentions a case of an organist who fell forward when stooping with a pipe in his mouth, driving its stem into the roof of the pharynx. He complained of a sore throat for several days, and, after explanation, Stevenson removed from the soft palate a piece of clay pipe nearly 1 1/4 inches long. Herbert tells of a case resembling carcinoma of the tongue, which was really due to the lodgment of a piece of tooth in that organ.
Articulation Without the Tongue.--Total or partial destruction of the tongue does not necessarily make articulation impossible. Banon mentions a man who had nothing in his mouth representing a tongue. When he was young, he was attacked by an ulceration destroying every vestige of this member. The epiglottis, larynx, and pharynx, in fact the surrounding structures were normal, and articulation, which was at first lost, became fairly distinct, and deglutition was never interfered with. Pare gives a description of a man whose tongue was completely severed, in
A peculiar habit, sometimes seen in nervous individuals, is that of "swallowing the tongue." Cohen claims that in some cases of supposed laryngeal spasm the tongue is swallowed, occluding the larynx, and sometimes with fatal consequences. There are possibly a half score of cases recorded, but this anomaly is very rare, and Major is possibly the only one who has to a certainty demonstrated the fact by a laryngoscopic examination. By the laryngoscope he was enabled to observe a paroxysm in a woman, in which the tongue retracted and impinged on the epiglottis, but quickly recovered its position. Pettit mentions suffocation from "tongue swallowing," both with and without section of the frenum. Schobinger cites a similar instance, due to loosening of the frenum.
Analogous to the foregoing phenomenon is the habit of "tongue sucking." Morris mentions a young lady of fifteen who spontaneously dislocated her jaw, owing indirectly to this habit. Morris says that from infancy the patient was addicted to this habit, which was so audible as to be heard in all parts of the room. The continued action of the pterygoid muscles had so preternaturally loosened the ligaments and muscular structures supporting the joint as to render them unable to resist the violent action of "tongue sucking" even during sleep.
Injuries to the Tongue.--Hobbs describes a man of twenty-three who, while working, had a habit of protruding his tongue. One day he was hit under the chin by the chain of a crane on a pier, his upper teeth inflicting a wound two inches deep, three inches from the tip, and dividing the entire structure of the tongue except the arteries. The edges of the wound were brought into apposition by sutures, and after the removal of the latter perfect union and complete restoration of the sensation of taste ensued. Franck mentions regeneration of a severed tongue; and Van Wy has seen union of almost entirely severed parts of the tongue. De Fuisseaux reports reunion of the tongue by suture after almost complete transverse division.
There is an account of a German soldier who, May 2, 1813, was wounded at the battle of Gross-Gorschen by a musket ball which penetrated the left cheek, carrying away the last four molars of the upper jaw and passing through the tongue, making exit on the left side, and forcing out several teeth of the left lower jaw. To his surprise, thirty years afterward, one of the teeth was removed from an abscess of the tongue. Baker speaks of a boy of thirteen who was shot at three yards distance. The bullet knocked out two teeth and passed through the tongue, although it produced no wound of the pharynx, and was passed from the anus on the sixth day. Stevenson mentions a case of an organist who fell forward when stooping with a pipe in his mouth, driving its stem into the roof of the pharynx. He complained of a sore throat for several days, and, after explanation, Stevenson removed from the soft palate a piece of clay pipe nearly 1 1/4 inches long. Herbert tells of a case resembling carcinoma of the tongue, which was really due to the lodgment of a piece of tooth in that organ.
Articulation Without the Tongue.--Total or partial destruction of the tongue does not necessarily make articulation impossible. Banon mentions a man who had nothing in his mouth representing a tongue. When he was young, he was attacked by an ulceration destroying every vestige of this member. The epiglottis, larynx, and pharynx, in fact the surrounding structures were normal, and articulation, which was at first lost, became fairly distinct, and deglutition was never interfered with. Pare gives a description of a man whose tongue was completely severed, in