Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-03-21

DN nature acarulNoiour
AE, ~ animal. as is shown by
aEN the incisors or so-callcd
g. NJ canine teeth with which
ga &S he is provided, but II Is
! NY \ not true. Human beings
s.s- sshasSND are carnivorons only by
''s'r " habit. and not by ma
ture." 1t was osteologis. Lucas of the Smith
sonian Institution who said 50 to writer 70.
The STAR, and he added:
You see. it is always from an animals teeth
that the diet intended for it by nature is
judged. But the fact that it has ipcisors docs
not prove that 1t is carniyorous. There are
plenty Of purely vegetable-eating beasts which
have well-deyeloped inciso-s. Take the mon
key, for example. Monkeys incisors are much
Iaore developed than those of man. but they
are exclusively fruit eGters the +. .iaors being
merely useful for fighting. We, who are de
scended from anthropoid apes. still have the
canine teeth, but, for the reason that 70
longer employ them for combatiye purposes.
they have become smaller. Man was originally
frugivorous, presumably. though the tin;e when
he iirst began to ca; meat must have been very
far back. Judging from the remains of extinct
mammals found in the caves among tie ashes
of his cooking fires which burned hundreds of
thousands OF years ago.
ANIMALS CLASSIFIED ~ THEIR TEETH.
1T is by the teeth of mammals tina; they are
most readily classified inasmuch as the deuti-
ton illustrates the food Of the animal and the
general habits which necessarily depend upon
Its manner of procuring food. The teeth by
which these things are determined are not the
incisors. but the molars or grinders. mann
NAL usually has several KINDS oi teeth In Us
jaws. lake the money. for example. Its
front teeth are for catching up anu nIppIng
little things With them II catches and Lills lis
sl.@
incisors are tor fighting. although in the carni
yora they are emf Logged TO pierce the flesh
deeply so as 10 open the veins and bleed the
victim to death. Thus you will find hat
tiger will know by instinct where 10 strike the
lugular vein OF an OK, OF the location OF which
L dare say that you yourself are not very
definitely aware. Behind the iuclsors IN the
monkey, well as in man. are found the Pee
molars, which are for cutting up what is 30 be
swallowed. while the molars themselves per
form the grinding process. 1t il really wonder
ful, you will observe how admirably the ,n-
tire APPARATUS is adapted for the purpose Ia
view. You md the most remarkable develop
ment OF the incisors of CANNES in the extinct
saber-toothed tiger contemporary with the
cave men. which mad two knlIe--haped teeth i'm
Its upper jaw So huge that it often uIcd i'm con-
sequence Of catching them IN the lower jaw.
beng thus rendered unable to close its mouth.
Each Of these tremendous weapons had a keen
saw on its inner edge.
IHE TCsKs OF AN ELEPHANT
"The tusks of an elephant are the upper in
cisors of the beast. They are not intended for
chewing. however, but for defense lou find
all through creation the most astonishing
adaptation of the teeth TO necessity. You are
familiar. of course. with the mighty ivory lance
of the narwhai. zen or twelve feet In lengtl ana
strong and sharp enough TO be driven through
the side of ship. That lance Is simply the
LETT upper lncisor OF the mammal. Once in 4
while by a freak both of the upper inclsors will
be developed in the narwh;l 70 that ii is
equipped with two spears instead of one. The
tooth in this case is designed for a weapon IA
hghting. The female has no lance Look at
the sawhsh. The entire length Of it's saw
which is a prolongation of the nasal Process. is
fringed with teeth. Again you have d weapon
merely, the manner OF the creature being to
strike right aud left for the purpose of wount-
ing Its prey. In mammals. however. the tee IA
are restricted to the iawbones. Lizards and
snakes have them on the bones of the palate Ms
Well True bony teeth are peculiar 10 animals
which have backbones. The most elaborate
dental apparatus known belongs TO the sea
urchin, whose jaws are composed of forty
pieces, moved by forty separate muscles. SnaIis
have sort Of ribbon with which they rasp their
food as with lie. Anteaters. though tEeya are
mammals, have no teeth 1t ali; but they get
there just the same. having no need to chew
their prey. The wlalebonc whale is another
mammal that has no teeth, its practice being 10
swallow ats food whole.
FISH WITH TEETH ON ITS TONGUE.
The biggest of fresh water fishes the
'arapaima' of the Amazon in South America.
which grows to six feet in length. has teeth ON
its tongue 80 that the latter resembles the Tie
and is used as such. Some kinds of trout also
have the same PECULIARLY. Fishes that swat
low their prey entire have their teeth 30 sup
ported on flexible bases TO bend backward
but not forward, in order that their victim,
shall not escape after they nave been once
seized. In ages gone by there were ferocious
sharks, such as would make moathfal of YOU
without blinking. seventy feet IN length.
Plenty of their teeth have been found watch
are five inches long, whereas the biggest of the
teeth belonging To sharks that exist at tue.
present day are one and half inches long.
Speaking OF extinct creatures reminds me 10
say that all of the early birds-those of early
geologic times. that is-had teeth with which
they captured the early worms OF the same
period. Being descended from reptiles il is
natural that they should POSSESS dental equip
ment. but when they ceased TO be carnivorous
they had no teeth any longer.
WHY RATS TEETH GROW CONTINUALLY.
Certain animals have teeth which grow
during all their lives. The rat and the squirrel
are examples of this. Our own teeth are de-
veloped from pulps which are absorbed and
disappear after the teeth are grown but in a
nnuaily secretlng material by which the in
cisor gains length Therefore the animal is
obliged to gnaw all the time TO keep the tooth
ground down to the proper length. 1t is COM
monty imagined that the rat keeps gnawing
from pure cusseiness, but such is not the case,
Sometimes 1T happens that the beast upper
and lower incisors 10 not meet properly so
that it is unable To gnaw. and it's teeth keep
growing around In spiral. Cases have been
known where a rats tooth grew in this man
ner through its sknil SO as TO pierce the brain
and Kill the unfortunate. The biggest teeth
know Of are those of the mastodon, which We
have in the shape of fossils. One advantage
about teeth is that they harder than al
most anything else in nature and will last
longer, SO that they may be picked up in an
excellent state OF preservation ages after the |
animals to which they originally belonged are
dead.
You often hear Of rendering a rattlesnake 1
harmless by pulling out its fangs. Then again
you read OF cases where a serpent 30 treated I
has bitten persons fatally. The reason for this |
Is that a poisonous snake is deprived only tenn
porarily OF its venomous powers by the extrac-
ton of the two incisors in the upper Jaw at the
bases of which are the poison glands OF
course you know that the fangs are hollow. so
that when the animal strikes the venom CUISINES
through them into the flesh of the person
struck. Now, by drawing the two teeth the
snake may be rendered harmless FOR a few
weeks but after a short time the two teeth lust
behind the original fangs move up and lake
their places, making connections with the
poison glands and thus becoming poison fangs
= good and effectiye he ola owes