we have explained the reason for all this when we spoke about the anatomy of bones and all the sense organs for each organ is more than one and so is the tongue. however the tongue is distinguished by its two halves being attached to each other unlike the tongue of some snakes which is divided in two. rather the tongue is distinguished by the attachment of one of its two halves to the other because if it remained as it was divided in two as in those snakes this would result in difficulty in chewing. speech is defective in humans and for this reason its two halves were attached and a single tongue was made. the tongues of fetuses are white in color because the flesh of the tongue is like that and the tongue only turns red after birth due to the blood it needs in the veins that are spread out in it.
وقد بينا السبب في ذلك كله عند كلامنا في تشريح العظام، وجميع آلات الحواس، فإن كل آلة منها تزيد على واحدة وكذلك اللسان أيضا ولكن اللسان اختص بأن فرديه ملتصق أحدهما بالآخر ولا كذلك لسان بعض الحيات فإنه مقسوم فيها باثنين وإنما اختص اللسان بالتصاق أحد فرديه بالآخر لأنه لو بقي على حاله مقسوما بإثنين كما في تلك الحيات لزم ذلك عسر المضغ. وكان الكلام يختل في الإنسان فلذلك لصق فرداه، وجعل لسانا واحدا وألسنة الأجنة بيض الألوان لأن لحم اللسان كذلك وإنما يحمر اللسان بعد الولادة وذلك لما يلزمه من الدم في العروق المنبثة فيه.