THE TONGUE A HEALTH GUIDE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 370, 13 September 1930, Page 16 (Supplement)

THE TONGUE A HEALTH GUIDE

(By a Physician.) 'flu) tongue is the barometer of the body. It will give you much valuable information about your health, and n glance at it now and then is well worth while. Observe its bulk. Inflammation will enlarge it; the appearance of indentations on the sides, in association with enlargement, suggests dyspepsia or debility. Note next, if any ulceration appears or if there are raw places. The tongue should be a clean pinkish colour, with the papillae conspicuous but not unduly prominent. There should be no “glazing.” Undue glossiness with relative absence of papillae, is suggestive of excessive smoking or of some chronic infection. So is a tongue patchily white here and there. It is a warning not to smoke so much. A dry condition of the tongue is often significant. Those who sleep with the mouth wide open may have a dry tongue in the morning on waking from the free evaporation. Dryness may exist in various degrees. It depends on a deficiency of saliva, and indicates a general tendency to diminished secretion. Fever or immoderate smoking may bo the cause of undue dryness. The colour of the tongue is frequently not a natural healthy hue. A pale colour may occur, with a similar

appearance of the gums and lips, and is found in bloodlessness and during the progress of chronic disorders. An extremely red tongue . may accompany a general catarrh of the mouth, or any inflammation of the palate, tonsils, or pharynx, and it indicates the need for an antiseptic mouth wash or gargle. Redness limited to the tip and edges of the tongue points to gastric or bilious disorder. When the blood is insufl.cicntly aerated the tongue assumes a lurid or purple colour. The “coat” is the most valuable of all the tongue signs. It is i warning that something is wrong within the “works.” The presence of fur. however, is not always a sign of disorder, since some pcopic habitually have a coated tongue, especially on rising in the morning. But such a tongue on waking, if in conjunction with a bad taste in the mouth, is suspicious of excess in eating, drinking, or smoking. A white “fur.” which is thick, moist, and uniform, accompanies any simple fever. A bilious tongue is yellow; it generally indicates liver derangement, with retortion of bile >n the blood,'and a liver saline is called for. If the tongue is at all cracked or fissured, the teeth should be given attention.