The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-02-24
A SOLITARY WALK.

4 Il
Nature-so cruel in thy loneliness,
The cloud thy chariot. every wind thy
Each sk.ylark's ecstacy thy siren Tyre,
What carest thou for mortal loneliness.
The grfefs of Empires. or homes lost
Thou can'st not give me back my hearts
No spark still flickers on Hopes altar fire.
Not thine the will. nay saddened heart to
I heard Footstep nnger at my side
I saw the Nall Prints In His hand Dr.
Nature henceforth by Him was glorified.
The key to all her parallels was mine.
New r Msassn and Earth enthroned Love
Wisdom unveiled to me Gods vast design.
Pail Mall Gazette.
Tales Told by Teeth.
Teeth are not bones. as most people
imagine them to be. Though they are
attached to the skeleton, they are not a
part OF 1t. They develop from the der
mis- or skin. and are, as rule. made up
Of three substances "dentine.'' zee
ment," and enamel"
Enamel is the hardest of all animal
substances. It actually contains more
than ninety-six parts In one hundred Of
mineral matter-mainly phosphate of
lime-while bone contains only 60 per
cent. This accounts for the fact that
teeth are more indestructible than any
other part OF the animal frame.
What is more wonderful still is that
| the tooth Is the keynote Of the frame.
An expert anatomist needs only to be
shown tooth or two in order to recon-
struct from them the animal from
whose jaw they originally came-and
this although the animal itself has
been dead ten million years, and its
kind extinct for almost as long.
Not only do the teeth show what their
owner looked like whefhar IT was ami
| NAL lizard, fish, or bird-some extinct
birds used to possess teeth-but study
Of a set of these useful organs will show
what the creature used to feed on, and.
incidentally, tell great deal about Its
life and habits.
than any other animal organs. An ele-
plant, for instance, has usually only
four teeth In use besides his tusks. But
they are big enough to make UP in size
what they lack in number. The teeth
OF the elephant tribe are so different
from those Of other animals that. when
fossil Is dug up, the geologfst can at
once be certain to what race of crea-
| lures it belonged, and Is able to recon
struct the gigantic mastodon, Or hairy
mammoth. in whose jaw it originally
grew.
At the other end Of the scale, in point
OF number of teeth, comes the snail.
possessor of lbs rows each Of 105 teeth,
or matter of 14,175 teeth in ALL
The teeth Of fish vary more greatly
than those Of any other known crea-
lures. Their teeth are not divided into
incisors, CANNES, ara molars, as in ami
mails, but almost every different kind of
fish has differently shaped teeth.
Sharks. for instance, have several rows
Of teeth, all extremely sharp-pointed.
The front row stands up erect, but those
behind are more or less recumbeni.
There is never any difficulty In identi-
| flying sharks tooth.
Most fish have a great number of
teeth. The dolphin, for instance. pos
sesses two hundred, but, there are 9TH
ers-like the sturgeon-which have no
teeth at ALL Almost all fish-sharks
especia1ly-shed their teeth frequently,
and grow new ones to replace them.
Snakes teeth-the poison-fangs, that
is-haye the same popularity There
are always fresh ones in reserve to take
| the place of those which get broken. A
rattlesnake may have as many as ten of
these reserve teeth. Snakes fangs are
very sharp. very elastic, and, contrary
to common belief, never hollow. but
provided with a groove, along which
the poison flies.
The sharp tusks of the crocodile and
all fesh-eating lizards need only to be
seen once to be easily identified after
ward. Some reptiles are toothless.
These are tortoises, turtles and toads.
A frog may easily be DISTINGUISHED
from a toad from the fact that the lat
ter has no teeth. while the former has
teeth in the upper jaw, but none in the
lower.-London Answers.