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greater in those which are flat and spongy. The teeth being
the most dense bones in the body, have the least power of
resisting disease, and in them the general termination of in-
flammation is in mortification.
In the second part of his justly celebrated work, published
some years after the first, from which We have taken his
foregoing opinions, Mr. Fox again recurs to the vitality of
the teeth with increased confidence, and observes,* " In the
former part, I endeavoured to prove that the teeth are organ-
ized in a similar manner to other bones, and that as possess-
ing life, they are connected with, and form an integral part
of the system." I have now the satisfaction to find that the
same opinion is entertained by almost all the enlightened
members of the surgical profession. Mr. Hunter, who made
many experiments by feeding animals with madder, in order
to ascertain the effect it would produce in colouring the dif-
ferent bones of the body, having observed that the teeth did
not become tinged so speedily as the other bones, or when
tinged, that they retained their colour longer, hence conclu-
ded, that " they are to be considered as extraneous bodies,
with respect to a circulation through their substance.
The consequence of having formed this opinion was, that
he could not, in any satisfactory manner, assign a cause for
the different diseases of the teeth. It must however, appear
extraordinary, that Mr. Hunter, who was so accurate an obser-
ver of the phenomenaofnature, should have published this opin-
ion, when he immediately added, that " they (the teeth) have
most certainly a living principle, by which means they make
part of the body, and are capable of uniting with any part
of a living body.

Fox, Part II, pages 1, 2.