Page 99 - My FlipBook

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art small holes leading to them on the inside, or behind the
temporary sockets and teeth, and these holes grow larger
and larger, till at last the body of the tooth passes quite
through them. Mr. Hunter supports this theory still farther
in page 90 &c. " As the body of the tooth is pushed out,
the socket at the same time contracts at its bottom, and
grasps the neck, or beginning fang, adheres to it, and rises
with it, which contraction is continued through the whole
length of the socket as the fang rises ; or the socket which
contained the body of the tooth, being too large for the fang,
is wasted, or absorbed into the constitution, and a new al-
veolar portion is raised with the fang." The observations of
the ingenious Mr. Hunter are however entirely hypothetical
and do not accord with anatomical truth \ indeed they en-
tirely overturn some of his former opinions. For if, as he
affirms, the permanent teeth were formed at the internal
part of the jaw and in a new series of alveolar processes,
it is evident that they must necessarily be placed in a smaller
circle than the temporary teeth. As if the processes and
sockets of the temporary teeth, as Mr. Hunter asserts, were
absorbed or totally destroyed, the permanent sockets should
extend to the anterior part of the jaw, accommodate them-
selves to the teeth, and thus form a segment of a larger circle.
Albinus however comes very near the truth, for when
speaking of the holes by which the connexion between the
membranes of the permanent and temporary teeth were pre-
served, he says, " as the new teeth increase, the contracted
part of the sockets is gradually dilated, and afterwards in
like manner the little opening, and thus they appear. But if
previous to the formation of the new teeth, the temporary
had fallen out, or were loosened in consequence of their
roots being wasted, then the socket of the temporary tooth
is gradually destroyed, while that of the other being dilated
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