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62 ' FIRST PERIOD—ANTIQUITY

One chapter of this work^ is altogether dedicated to the study of the
teeth; but he also speaks of these organs in many other of his works,
particularly in his History of Annuals, which is a real and proper treatise
on zoology, wherein the author records a great number of notes about
the peculiarities presented by the dental system, in the different classes
of animals.
In spite of the great errors into which he has fallen, his ideas about
the teeth are, taken as a whole, quite worthy of attention, especially
when one considers the remote epoch in which this great philosopher
wrote. We will here give a brief notice of the most important of his
observations relating to the dental organs.
The form, the disposition, the number of the teeth, varies in animals,
according to the quality of their food and according to whether the teeth
serve merely to divide and to chew the alimentary substances, or as
instruments of offence and defence as well. In man, the teeth serve
principally for mastication, but the front ones have, besides, another most
important office, nameh', that of assisting in the articulation of words,
in the pronunciation of certain letters.
In those animals in which the teeth also serve as weapons, it is to be
observed either that some of them protrude like those of the boar,
or that they are sharp and saw-like in their disposition, as in the lion,
the panther, the dog, etc. No animal possesses at the same time pro-
truding and saw-like teeth.
The teeth are not always equal in number in both jaws; the animals
provided with horns have no teeth in the front of the upper jaw; this,
however, is also to be observed in animals without horns, as for example,
in the camel. Among the animals provided with horns there are none
which have protruding or saw-like teeth.
In general, the front teeth are pointed and the back ones broad. Never-
theless, all the teeth of the seal are pointed, w^ith a saw-like disposition,
perhaps because this animal marks the transition from the quadruped
to the fish, all of which, with few exceptions, have their teeth formed in
that way. Animals with saw-like teeth have generally very large mouths.
No animal has ever more than one row of teeth m each jaw; however,
says Aristotle, if Ctesias- is to be believed, there is an animal in India,
named marticora, which has a triple row of teeth.
The molar teeth are never changed either in man or in any known
animal; the pig never changes its teeth.
One can judge the age of many animals by their teeth. As the animal

' De partibus animalium, iii, cap.
lib. i.
' Ctesias, of Cnydiis, wrote various works, somewhat earlier than Aristotle; one of which,
the History of India, is very interesting, but also contains not a few fables.