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144 HUNTER ON THE TEETH.
would occur, if in the adult these were not changed for another
set somewhat different.
If the child had been so contrived, as not to have required
Teeth till the time of the second set's appearing, there would
have been no occasion for a new set : but the Jaw-bones being
considerably smaller in children than in adults, and it being
necessary that they should have two Grinders, there is not room
for Incisores and Guspidati of sufficient size to serve through
life ; and the first formed Grinders having necessarily too small
fangs, and the Jaw increasing at the back part only, these two
Grinders would have been protruded too far forwards, and at
too great a distance from the center of motion. This variation
in the size of the Teeth is likewise a reason why the second set
are not formed in the sockets of the first ; and why the old
sockets are destroyed.
These circumstances with regard to the shedding of the Teeth,
contradict the notion of the second set being made broader and
thicker, by the resistance they meet with in pushing out the
first. For were we, on a partial view of the subject, to admit
the supposition, the Bicuspides would effectually overturn our
hypothesis ; because here the second set are much smaller than
the first, and yet the resistance would be greater to them than
to the Incisores.
From the manner in which the Teeth are shed, it is evident that
drawing a temporary Tooth, for the easier protrusion of the one
underneath, will be of no great service ; for in general it falls
out before the other can touch it. But it is of much more ser-
vice to pull out the neighbouring, or adjacent temporary Tooth
;
for we must be convinced by what has been advanced with
regard to the changes in size, that excepting the whole were to
shed at the same time, or the order of shedding, viz. from before
backwards, were to be inverted, that the second set of Incisores
and Cuspidati must be pinched in room, till the Grinders are
also shed : and therefore we find it often of use to draw a tem-
porary Tooth, that is placed further back ; and it would, perhaps,