I 



ON ABSORPTION. 29 



canine. Thus we have a specimen of two teeth 

 during the progress of development inducing ab- 

 sorption "by the contact of their soft vascular 

 tissues with the fang of a deciduous tooth, the 

 destruction of which takes place in positions cor- 

 responding to each of the new teeth ; whereas, the 

 extremity of the fang, and every portion where we 

 should presume an especial organ to act, are un- 

 influenced.* 



It was first asserted by Dr. Ashburner, and 

 recently in the pages of Dr. Kirke's Physiology, 

 that, previous to absorption of the deciduous tooth, 

 death or degeneration of that organ must have 

 occurred. , ■ 



But this appears by no, ineans to be the case, 

 inasmuch as we have repeatedly had evidence of all 

 the tissues being in healthy connexion with the 

 tooth, except at that point where absorption is 

 actually in progress ; and we moreover know that 

 absorption of the bone takes place, and that bone 

 redeveloped around that portion which becomes the 

 fangs of the permanent tooth, a circumstance which 



* The mouth from which this specimen is taken strongly evidences 

 the necessity of those who have the care of young persons' teeth having 

 a clear idea of the means by which they are removed. The deciduous 

 lateral was early lost, the canine tooth consequently closed in upon the 

 central incisor, leaving no room for the permanent organs to obtain 

 their normal position in the dental arc. The opposite side of the mouth 

 having not been deprived of the deciduous teeth, the result is of a 

 different character. If the two sides of the superior maxilla be mea- 

 sured, they will be found to differ in their respective lengths in a 

 ratio corresponding to the lost deciduous lateral. 



