Tonsils
What are commonly called Tonsils are actually the palatine tonsils. They are two masses of lymphoid tissue situated on either side of the throat at the back of the tongue and are oval in nature.
The tonsils act as a filter against disease. They can become a site of infection, a condition known as tonsillitis, and sometimes become enlarged. This condition is more prevalent during childhood, since tonsil tissue tends to regress with age. Removal of the tonsils is sometimes advised if frequent inflammation poses a threat to health.
In times past tonsils were considered to be vestigial structures, meaning they were thought, under the theory of evolution, that they no longer had meaning in the modern human body and were left over from an earlier stage of development. For many years it was common for tonsils to be removed almost hapharzardly.