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ready formed, is not in reality so, for it is forming every day
by having new matter thrown into it, till the whole substance
is complete ; and even then it is constantly changing its
matter.
Another circumstance in which teeth seem different from
bone, and a strong circumstance of their having no circula-
tion in them, is, that they never change by age, and seem nev-
er to undergo any alteration, when completely formed, but
by abrasion ; they do not grow softer, like the other bones,
as we find in some cases, where the whole earthy matter of
the bones has been taken into the constitution."
* " From these experiments it would appear, that the teeth
are to be considered as extraneous bodies, with respect to
a circulation through their substance."
Had Mr. Hunter been a practical dentist, there is hardly
a doubt but what more scrutinizing and accurate observa-
tions would have wrought an entire change in his opinions
upon this subject ; and indeed, as it was, his accurrate know-
ledge of the animal economy, forced him to the conclusion,
that the teeth in order to unite with living parts, must possess
a degree of vitality ; for he well knew that dead and living
bodies, cannot by any process whatever, be made to unite
with each other ; for subsequently, to what I have already
quoted from his book, he remarks,f " From these experi-
ments it would appear that the teeth, are to be considered as
extraneous bodies, with respect to a circulation through their
substance ; but they have most certainly a living pri?iciple,
by which means they make part of the body, and are ca-
pable of uniting with any part of a living body." If Mr.
Hunter could have operated upon the bony structure of the
teeth, in some states of disease he would certainly have per-

* Hunter. Nat. Hist, of the Human Teeth, page 39. 1 Pages 39, 40.