Page 105 - My FlipBook

103
but to see two rows of teeth as in the son of Mithradatus or
three as in Hercules, must excite our astonishment : perhaps
we might be tempted to doubt these facts if in a collection
of observations published at Brusland in 1772 and dedicated
to the celebrated Haller Arnold had not reported that he had
seen a child, aged fourteen years, who had seventy-two
teeth, thirty-two for each jaw, which were healthy and well
placed in two rows, except the front ones, which were
slightly irregular. The number of the teeth is generally
fixed but it is not exempt from those sports of nature which
sometimes produce six fingers on each hand."
A highly respectable physician of New York, informed
me that he had in his anatomical museum, the lower jaw of
an adult negro, procured in the Southern States, in which
were twenty-seven teeth. Whether this number arose from
not having lost all the deciduous teeth it is difficult to say
without a particular examination. A great many more in-
stances of this kind might be adduced, but I deem it unne-
cessary.
In many instances the teeth are reported to have been re-
newed the third time but from the fact that the deciduous
teeth may be retained for many years and after this the
germs of the second be brought forward, the reports of
third dentition have been generally considered as fabulous.
However, I am rather persuaded that a third dentition may
have taken place in some very rare cases. A highly respect-
able gentleman, and remarkable for probity of character,
with whom I am well acquainted, has assured me that he
has thrice renewed the front incisores of the upper jaw, the
second set having been lost by accident. It is said by the
celebrated Lord Francis Bacon,* that the Countess of Des-

Refrospective Review,