Book 7
12
Again the tongue in some persons is tied down from birth to the part underlying it, and on this account they cannot even speak. In such cases the extremity of the tongue is to be seized with a forceps, and the membrane under it incised, great care being taken lest the blood vessels close by are injured and bleeding causes harm. The treatment of the wound afterwards has been described above. And indeed many when the wound has healed have spoken; I have, however, known a case when, though the tongue has been undercut so that it could be protruded well beyond the teeth, nevertheless the power of speech has not followed. So it is that in the Art of Medicine even where there is a rule as to what ought to be done, yet there is no rule as to what result ensues.
12
Sometimes also under the tongue an abscess occurs which is generally enclosed in a coat and causes much pain. If it is small, one cut is enough; if large, the skin over it is to be excised down to the coating; then the two margins are laid hold of with hooks, and the coating is to be freed from what it surrounds and completely extracted, taking great care throughout the operation that no large blood vessel is cut into.
