The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-07-05
The Teeth of a Snail.

Institute at Washington to
be piloted by some scientific friend out
of the public apartments to n of the
little working rooms.
Supposing ourselves to be fortunate
enough to obtain an invitation of this
sort, let us take a look at the operations
of one of the busy gentlemen whom we
find at work in one of these secluded
a wonderful confusion of specimens"
of all sorts, and the atmosphere is pun
gent with scents of alcohol and other
substances.
The scientist is engaged with a mi
croscope, and by his side is a vial con-
tanning some minute ,snails. No doubt
there is more in a snail than we sus-
pect, though, literally, there is very
little of him.
Many of these specimens would
make a mouthful for a May
beetle.
care: you ~dissecting these snails, sirp"
we inquire. =.
"Not precisely; but I SIN extracting
their teeth" is the reply, with a grim
- 80.
Now the operations of a snail dentist
must be peculiar, when we reflect upon
the size of the entire creature. And
what has a snail to do with teeth, any
wayP
Our investigator is at work upon the
Hello. minutd, a snail which NAV be
found almost anywhere along the III
try roadsides, ensconced beneath a stone
or decayed bit of wood. He is about as
large as the head of a pin, and yet,
small as he is, he must be picked to
pieces and studied in detail before he
can be assigned to a proper place in his
numerous and respectable family. i
1t appears, moreover, that the CLASH
ficationlof Mr.. and Mrs. Snail (who are
literally one) and the little snails is
based upon their teeth, and is deter
mined by the number, shape and ar
rangement of these useful articles.
The teeth are placed in rows UPON
the upper side Of the tongue. They
are very numerous, the little heli1 now
under examination having 1879 pre-
cisely. Some members Of the family
possess several thousand; and, OIL
what if they were all to ache at once!
As the entire body of the Hello mi
nuta is SO small. it will be readily be-
lieved that a single tooth is wholly in
visible to the unaided eye, and hardly
appreciable if described by figures.
The whole head forms, perhaps, a
twentieth part of the body, and the
tongue is smaller in proportion to the
head of its owner than that of a man.
Indeed, the tongue itself cannot be
seen by the naked eye. and yet upon it
ORC or.1.anrod fboso / $40 footb in SOW
enty-three rows, containing twenty
three each. Of these teeth a minute
and accurate drawing has to be made,
to illustrate the species of the snail.
Suppose you are a dabbler in science
and wish to undertake this task. How
will you set about itp
The heGr is snugly coiled away in his
shell, and the first operation is to coax
him out. An effort to invite him along
with the point of a fine needle would
be. like trying to shell out a lobster
with a crow-bar. The needle becomes
a ponderous instrument when applied
to this minute creature, and ven if he
were poked out by this means, it would
doubtless be in a fragmentary or dam
aged condition. Some other method
must be resorted to. 90
The snail is placed upon the bottom
of a saucer, holding a small quantity
of water, and the shell is cracked by ?
smart but delicate blow. Mr.. HELM re-
spends to the knock, and out he fioats
upon the little ocean. There he is,
plainly before you; but he cannot be re
moved by the common process of hand
ling. Take a small glass tube, open a
both ends, put your finger upon the top,
place it carefully over the snail and g
move the finger. The fluid PUSHES up
into the tube, and the HELM with it.
Now clap your finger on the tubs
again and you have him. You a next
proceed to the dissection.
Place the snail upon a piece of glass
and bring the microscope to bear upon
him. You behold a large object dis
tinctly defined in aHits parts. You ex-
claim: "Aha! I've got him nown',
You select your most minute and
delicate dissecting- implement and
chuckle your approaching triumph.
Presently the point of your instrument
appear in the focus of the microscope.
What is this? You behold a huge,
bunchy thing like the end of youl
finger, much larger than the object you
desire to sever. You make a push with
it against the helix, and only succeed in
moving the entire body. This will never
do.
You might compress the snail be-
tween two bits of glass, but the result
would be a confused mass, from which
it would be difficult to disengage the
slender ribbon which performs the
f,,ofinnc Of n tpnrnn Rrrt 70 eno 1iff1o
potash water in a test tube, put the
snail into it, and boil it for a few min
utes ove a spirit lamp.
The a speedily disappears, being
dissolved by the potash. The tongue,
however, is composed of a horny sub.
stance insoluble in potash, and although
it is ii invisible you know it is somewhere
in the tube. AS it is heavier than this
liquid, it is most probably at the bot.
tom. The next thing is to find it.
Carefully pour from the tube nearly
all the fluid, and empty the sediment
into a watch-glass. Now apply the mi.
croscope, and a patient search will re.
veal the desired object.
Make a nice calculation as to the pre-.
else spot in the waste of waters which
comes under the focus of the micro
scope; clap down the little glass tube
upon it as before, and you may with
draw the prize in triumph.
Now place the tongue between two
thin plates of good glass, and with the
aid of the microscope you may proceed
with your drawing at leisure. Wher
the sketch of a single tooth is com
pleted, you will behold a fierce-lookine
i~ncisor, apparently large enough to at.
ford a good grip to the dentists largest
forceps.-W H. W. Campbell, in Colder
Days.
"A large number of watering-place
hotels have issued edicts against dogs,