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OP THE ORINDEBS. 103
Thus from the Incisorcs to the first Grinder, the Teeth
become gradually thicker at the extremity of their bodies, and
smaller from the first Grinder to the Dens Sapientice. From
the Cuspidatus to the Dens Sapientice the fangs become much
shorter ; the Incisores are nearly of the same length with the
Bicuspides. From the first Incisor to the last Grinder, the
Teeth stand less out from the sockets and Gums.
The bodies of the Teeth in the Lower-Jaw are turned a little
outwards at the anterior part of the Jaw, and thence, to the
third Grinder, they are inclined gradually more inwards. The
Teeth in the Upper-Jaw project over those of the Under, espe-
cially at the fore-part, which is owing to the greater obliquity
of the Teeth in the Upper-Jaw ; for the circle of the sockets is
nearly the same in both Jaws. This oblique situation, however,
becomes gradually less, from the Incisores backwards, to the
last Grinder, which makes them gradually project less in the
same proportion.
remarkable in the Australian variety, in which race also the wisdom
teeth attain large relative dimensions, and are generally distinguishable
from those of Europeans, not only by a complex implantation by
distinct fangs, but by the fuller development of their posterior tubercles.
A careful examination, however, of the dentition in a large collection of
crania will prove that the dimensions of the molar teeth in Australian
skulls vary ; that in some cases they are equalled in size by the same
teeth in other races, and that in exceptional instances the development
and implantation of the upper third molar does not differ from the
ordinary standard. In the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons
is an Australian skull, in which the upper wisdom exactly resembled
the same tooth in the cranium of a Celtic Scot, with which it was com-
pared. It was considerably smaller than the penultimate, whilst the
diminution, as in Europeans, principally depended on the minor deve-
lopment of the posterior internal tubercle. In another instance, in the
same race, the writer found that the three fangs of the upper third
molar were conjoined, and he has noticed the same thing in a skull of
an allied variety, the Papuan of New Guinea. In the West Coast
African Negro, the molars also usually attain large, but not exceptional,
dimensions. In skulls of the Hottentot and Bushman race which have
come under the writer's notice, the development of these]; teeth has not
been above the ordinary standard. (1)]
' On the Teeth in the Varieties of Man,' Dental Review, 1860.
(1)