Page 40 - My FlipBook

Natural History of the Teeth.
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The cuspidati stand next to the incisores, and are shaped
eomewhat like them, though more round, much thicker and
ihe corners cut off: they are the longest and strongest teeth tn
the head: the cuspidati of the upper jaw are much larger than
those of the lower, and differently shaped. » The use ef the
cuspidati," says Mr. Hunter, "would seem to be to lay hold
of substances! perhaps even living animals." This opinion is
probably ineorrect, as applied to the teeth of man, for his en-
dowment of reason, and his hands make such a mode of ob-
taining food unnecessary, while his erect posture,* makes it
Their office is probably to tear the food too
impracticable.
hard for the i7icisores to cut.
The bicuspides stand back of the cuspidati, and between
these teeth and the molares; they were formerly called small
double teeth, but Mr. Hunter more properly named them bi-
cuspides, from the two projecting points.
The external point is longer than the internal, which makes
these teeth appear very like the cuspidati when viewed later-
ally : the anterior bicuspides are a little smaller than the
posterior ; those of the upper jaw have two fangs; the lower
The molares are placed behind the bhusipides, and their
ehape is very similar in both jaws ; the two anterior are much
larger than the posterior or wisdom teeth; those of the upper
jaw have three fangs, sometimes four, rarely five; one is plac-
ed internally and two externally : the wisdom teeth have two
fan^ ; the two anterior molares of the lower jaw have two fangs,
the'one placed anterior and the other posterior ; the wisdom
teeth have but one,
There is a regular gradation in size, form and use, through
the whole series, from the incisores to the molares. The cuspi-
a middle place between the incisores and bicuspt-
dati hold
* —
* Pronaque cum spectent animalia caetera terrarn ;
Os homini sublime dedit : ccelurnque tueri
Jnseit, & erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.
Ovidii MetamorphoseoTH hb. i. fab. II