224 STRUCTURE AND ADAPTATION OF TEETH 



the subject as to bring it within the allotted limits 

 of the present paper. Viewed merely as a recrea- 

 tion, no pursuit offers more exuberant variety of 

 intellectual enjoyment than that of Natural History. 

 Many an hour may thus be profitably occupied when 

 the mind and body are wearied with daily toil, and 

 many a solitary walk is beguiled by the new and 

 lively interest which invests the most common 

 objects. JSTor are these studies incompatible with 

 diligent application to important duty, while the 

 habits of minute observation which are cultivated 

 cannot fail to be beneficial to any one engaged in 

 a profession like our own. Mr. Abernethy has a 

 remark in one of his lectures which, though de- 

 signed to have a still wider signification, appears 

 in its degree not inapplicable to onr own special 

 department. He says — 



'' The man who confines his attention to a single 

 object will have a mind as contracted as the object 

 he contemplates. Knowledge of various kinds is 

 requisite to form the true surgeon : it serves like 

 light shining ficom various sources to illuminate 

 the object of his researches." 



As there is no deficiency in the works of the 

 all- wise Creator, so there is no superfluity; and 

 the importance of the teeth in the animal economy 

 is evident from the fact, that the great majority of 

 animals are furnished with these organs in some 

 form or other ; and that, where the teeth are not 

 present, some efl&cient substitute is provided, as in 



