Should there be the slightest want of
accuracy in this movement, or should an inspiration be made during the
ingestion of food, choking and coughing ensue, as already has been
noticed. So admirably contrived, however, is the movement both of
the epiglottis and of the tongue, that, while the food is being ground
to a pulp in the mouth, the tongue very rarely gets caught between the
teeth; and, while the food is passing over the epiglottis seldom
does a particle of it slip into the windpipe.
The animals which have been mentioned as having no epiglottis owe
this deficiency to the dryness of their flesh and to the hardness of
their skin. For an epiglottis made of such materials would not admit
of easy motion. It would, indeed, take a longer time to shut down an
epiglottis made of the peculiar flesh of these animals, and shaped
like that of those with hairy skins, than to bring the edges of the
windpipe itself into contact with each other.
Thus much then as to the reason why some animals have an
epiglottis while others have none, and thus much also as to its use.
It is a contrivance of nature to remedy the vicious position of the
windpipe in front of the oesophagus. That position is the result of
necessity. For it is in the front and centre of the body that the
heart is situated, in which we say is the principle of life and the
source of all motion and sensation.
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