354 STRUCTURE AND ADAPTATION OF TRETII 



the other hand, if the canines are actually want- 

 ing, an opposite lack of force of character, or a 

 vacant aspect, is given to the face. 



We have seen in the carnivorous, gnawing, and 

 graminivorous animals, that the canines, incisors, 

 and molars respectively attain their highest de- 

 velopment. In man each of these classes of teeth 

 is represented in a modified degree, unitedly 

 forming a symmetrical arrangement. A denti- 

 tion exhibiting a medium between the extremes, 

 would appear to be adapted to an omnivorous 

 diet, and a comparison with the more robust 

 development of the teeth in the Quadrumana shows 

 the human teeth to be unfitted for the division 

 and comminution of the hard and tough uncooked 

 food on which those animals principally subsist. 



But the divine gift of reason more than com- 

 pensates for the comparative feebleness of man's 

 physical endowments ; and he alone possesses the 

 intelligence to employ fire in the preparation of 

 his food. The most degraded savage can procure 

 fire at his will ; the most cunning beast has not 

 the sense even to maintain the hunter's deserted 

 fire, although deriving enjoyment fi:'om its genial 

 warmth. Man, therefore, is the only cooking 

 animal, and consequently the only true cosmopo- 

 lite. His mastery over the powers of nature 

 enables him to traverse the globe from the tropics 

 to the poles, and his digestive organs are 

 adapted, equally with his teeth, for the utmost 



