Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-05-25
QUEER FAcTs ABOUT TEETH.
Especially ATankind's Teeth, and Inciden,
tally the Teeth OF Birds and Fishes.

Especially ATankind's Teeth, and Inciden,
tally the Teeth OF Birds and Fishes.
"You will often hear 1t said that man
is by nature a carnivorous animal, as is
shown by the incisors or so-called
canine teeth with which he is provided,
but it is not true. Human beings are
carnivorous only by habit, and not by
nature" 1t was Osteologist Lucas, of
the Smithsonian, who said SO, and he
added:
''You see, it is always from an ami
malls teeth that the diet intended for it
by nature is judged. But the fact that
it has incisors does not prove that it is
carnivorous. There are plenty Of purely
vegetable-eating beasts which have
well-developed incisors. Take the
monkey, for example. Monkeys in
cisors are much more developed than
those of man, but they are exclusively
fruit-eaters, the incisors being useful
merely for fighting. We, who are de-
scended from anthropoid apes, still
have the canine teeth, but, for the rea-
son that we no longer employ them for
combative purposes, they have become
smaller. Man was originally frugivor-
GUS, presumably, though the time when
he first began to eat meat must have
been very far back, judging from the
remains of extinct mammals found in
the caves among the ashes of his cook
ing fires which burned hundreds of
thousands of years ago. 10.
''It is by the teeth of mammals that
they are most readily classified, mas
much as the dentition 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. A mammal usually has
several kinds of teeth in its Jaws.
Take the monkey, for example. Its
front teeth are for catching up and nip
| ping little things. With them it catches
and kills its parasites, the fleas, as does
likewise dog. Its incisors are for
| fighting, although in the carnivora they
are employed to pierce the flesh deeply
so as to open the veins and bleed the
victim to DEATH"
'"Thus you will find that tiger will
know by instinct where to strike the
| jugular vein of an OK. of the location of
which dare say that you yourself are
not very definitely aware. Behind the
incisors in the monkey, as well as in
man, are found the pre-molars, which
are for cutting up what is to be swal-
lowed, while the molars themselves per-
form the grinding process. 1t is really
wonderful, you will observe, how adj
mirably the entire apparatus is adapted
for the purpose in view. You find the
most remarkable development of the
incisors of CANNES in the extinct saber-
toothed tiger, contemporary with the
| cave men, which had two knife-shaped
teeth in its upper jaw so huge that II
often died in consequence of catching
them in the lower jaw, being thus una
BILE to close its mouth. Each of these
weapons had a keen saw on its inner
edge.
"The tusks of an elephant are the
upper incisors Of the beast. They are
not intended for chewing, however, but
for defense. You find all through Gre
alton the most astonishing adaptation
of the teeth to necessity. You are IA
miliar, of course, with the mighty.ivory
lance of the narwhal, ten or twelve feet
in length and strong and sharp enough
to be driven through the side Of g
ship. That lance is simply the left upper
incisor of the mammal. Once in 6
while by freak both of the upper in
cisors will be developed in the narwha,
so that it is equipped with two spear.
instead of one. The tooth in this cast
is designed for a weapon in fighting
The female has no lance.
'rLook at the sawfish. The entire
length of its saw, which is prolonga
ton of the nasal process, is fringeC
with teeth. Again you have a weapon
merely, the manner of the creature be
ing to strike right and left for the pur
pose of wounding its prey. In man
mails, however, the teeth are restricted
to the jawbones. Lizards and snakes
have them on the bones of the palate a.
well. True bony teeth are peculiar t.
animals who have baclxbones. TIL,
most elaborate dental apparatus know
belongs to the sea urchin, who's,
jaws are composed of forty pieces
moved by forty separate muscles
Snails have a sort of ribbon witt
which they rasp their food as with
file. Anteaters, though they are mann
mails, have no teeth at all; but they ge
there just the same, having no need Il
chew their prey. The whalebon
whale is a mammal that has no teeth
its practice being to swallow its foo
whole. ~f - .-. zr.
} ssThe biggest of fresh water fishes
the tarapaima' of the Amazon in Soutl
America, which grows to six feet il
length, has teeth on its tongue, so tina
the latter resembles the file and is use
as such. Some kinds of trout also hav
the same popularity. Fishes that swal
low their prey entire have their teeta
so supported on flexible bases as t
bend backward, but not forward, in OF
der that their. victims shall not escap
after they have been seized. ....E
You often hear of rendering raj
tlesnale harmless by pulling out it
fangs. Then, again, you read of case
where serpent so treated has bite
, persons fatally. The reason for this
that poisonous snake is deprived onl
!, temporarily of its venomous powers b