Show Y You and Your Health FISHBEiN 1 MORRIS By Journal of ft tb American Medical Association and of Hygeia the Health Magazine ag 4 Doctors used to pay much more attention to the tongue than they now do It once was customary f for or r the doctor to look at a patients patient's patients patient's pa- pa tient's tongue and to pay pey a great deal of attention to the kind of of coating it it had upon it or to its c color olor o Scarlet fever victims frequently have what is called strawberry tongue When the tongue is furred and coated there is usually som some ome disturbance of digestion A fever ever or any other condition which causes dryness of the mouth will wilt be reflected very promptly in the appearance of the tongue The tissue of the tongue is as fairly delicate so that it responds promptly to irritations Thus the tongue may be suddenly ly inflamed by y bites burns or by secondary infections while a patient is suffering suffering suffering suf suf- fering from scarlet fever typhoid or smallpox Whenever the tongue Is infected infected in infected in- in the glands under the jaw jawand jawand jawand and on the sides of the neck also become infected and swollen in inthe tl the he attempt to top stop the spread pread of the he infection Occasionally the tissue which holds the tongue is 13 too long at birth This develops into some exceedingly unusual conditions If the tissue Is abnormally long the tongue may fall back in the throat and be swallowed during sl sleep ep asphyxiating the victim This has happened in recorded cases The tissue which hol holds the tongue also may be so short as to cause tongue-tie tongue and consequent disturbance of speech There are instances in which the tongue overgrows so that it protrudes beyond the lips and a condition has been described in which only one-half one of the tongue develops properly so that one half is larger than the other When children have an insufficient insufficient insufficient amount of secretion of the thyroid gland the tongue seems large and It almost invariably protrudes from the mouth in the type of thyroid deficiency called cretinism or As willbe will willbe willbe be shown later when there is de deficient deficient deficient de- de secretion of the thyroid gland the child usually fails to develop both mentally and phy- phy When the tongue is 13 chronically inflamed and red a 6 digestive disturbance disturbance disturbance dis dis- dis- dis or sensitivity to v various rious foods may be responsible In these cases there sometimes is found a deficiency In the important important important tant vitamins particularly of vitamin B. B Teeth and tonsils should be studied for presence of any in in- It is customary to use some mild alkaline mouth wash and to feed irritating fluids through a straw If the patient I Ihas' Ihas has has' rest and ordinary attention these inflammations usually clear up satisfactorily |