Page 108 - My FlipBook
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this kind which involved the teeth of both jaws and with
which I close the present section, without any longer de-
taining the reader with a detail of anomalies with which, to
say the least, we very rarely meet. Courtois observes ;
" My brother being at the Hotel-Dieu, where he lived in
quality of Surgeon, furnished me with the following observ-
ations. ' A man of about thirty or thirty-five years of age
being dead in the said Hospital, was brought to the Amphi-
theatre to undergo the different operations practised by M.
Moreau, for the instruction of the young students of this
house. This dead man having very fine teeth, my brother
wished to extract them, particularly the incisors and canine
which the dentists occasionally want. All his teeth broke off
when cautiously seized hold of them by the pincers to draw
them out of their sockets. The two jaws being stripped of
all the flesh with which they were covered, were sawed
through ; and it was observed with much surprise that not
a single trace of the alveolar partition nor any difference of
the spongy substance could be distinguished, of which the
maxillary bones, together with the substance of the roots of
the teeth are so commonly composed. The bones of the
jaw and teeth of this man were composed but of one sub-
stance ; the germs of the teeth were so much confounded
with the osseous juice of the maxillary bones, that it was im-
possible to recognise the least trace of the teeth in the alveo-
lar region, whilst on the exterior the teeth were seen well
fo med and arranged in the most regular order.' " M. Petit a
celebrated anatomist reports in his course of anatomy a sim-
ilar case. I will ask a question rather than any other should
ask of me. Had this man ever any milk-teeth ?
This prob-
lem as difficult as it appears to resolve, is in the mean while
susceptible of some conjectures, it is veiy likely that in the
subject of whom I speak, the teeth were cut but once only
106
this kind which involved the teeth of both jaws and with
which I close the present section, without any longer de-
taining the reader with a detail of anomalies with which, to
say the least, we very rarely meet. Courtois observes ;
" My brother being at the Hotel-Dieu, where he lived in
quality of Surgeon, furnished me with the following observ-
ations. ' A man of about thirty or thirty-five years of age
being dead in the said Hospital, was brought to the Amphi-
theatre to undergo the different operations practised by M.
Moreau, for the instruction of the young students of this
house. This dead man having very fine teeth, my brother
wished to extract them, particularly the incisors and canine
which the dentists occasionally want. All his teeth broke off
when cautiously seized hold of them by the pincers to draw
them out of their sockets. The two jaws being stripped of
all the flesh with which they were covered, were sawed
through ; and it was observed with much surprise that not
a single trace of the alveolar partition nor any difference of
the spongy substance could be distinguished, of which the
maxillary bones, together with the substance of the roots of
the teeth are so commonly composed. The bones of the
jaw and teeth of this man were composed but of one sub-
stance ; the germs of the teeth were so much confounded
with the osseous juice of the maxillary bones, that it was im-
possible to recognise the least trace of the teeth in the alveo-
lar region, whilst on the exterior the teeth were seen well
fo med and arranged in the most regular order.' " M. Petit a
celebrated anatomist reports in his course of anatomy a sim-
ilar case. I will ask a question rather than any other should
ask of me. Had this man ever any milk-teeth ?
This prob-
lem as difficult as it appears to resolve, is in the mean while
susceptible of some conjectures, it is veiy likely that in the
subject of whom I speak, the teeth were cut but once only
