larynx

There is one thing, among abundance of others, in Anatomy, which has always much affected me with Admiration, … It is the Situation and Elaſticity of the Epiglottis, a ſoft Cartilaginous Cover to the Larynx, or Orifice of the Wind-pipe; that this Epiglottis ſhould, all a Man's life, be drawn up, for the Benefit of Reſpiration, and fall down and ſhut, whilſt every bit we eat, and every drop we drink, paſſes over it into the Gullet and Stomach; and that we ſhould ſo ſeldom have Occaſion to cough up a crum, or drop, that may accidentaly ſlip into the Larynx; …