Mr Nasmyth on the Human Mouth. 177 



of the nose ; and this arises from the eversion of the inferior 

 borders in which the teeth are placed. The bones thus, as it 

 were, tilted, and receiving no permanent increase of material 

 as they grow, equivalent to form new structures, are pressed 

 upward and backward, and produce this derangement of 

 feature by the inversion of the superior portions of the inter- 

 maxillary bones. The same causes will serve to explain the 

 increased distance between the eyes of the uncivilized races, 

 produced by the flattening and lateral expansion of the nasal 

 bones ; this being a necessary consequence of the expansion 

 of all the other bones of the face. 



With regard to the other extreme of development which 

 is generally to be observed in the mouths of civilized men, the 

 concomitants are obvious, and quite as marked as those at- 

 tending uncivilized men. It must accord with the experience 

 of all, that precocity of intellect is very generally accompanied 

 by an arrest of physical development and a languid constitu-. 

 tion. When we meet with such an arrest of development and 

 unhealthy secretion in the system generally, we must expect 

 to find a similar arrest of development in the maxillary bonea 

 containing the cavities in which the teeth are lodged. This 

 will occasion a deficiency of space for the proper arrangement 

 and development of these organs, which, it is curious to remark, 

 under all circumstances, follow the s^,me ratio of growth as to 

 size. They will also generally be found to be faulty in their 

 structure when they arrive at maturity, or even as soon aa 

 they make their appearance externally. 



In addition to the ordinary diseases of the teeth called 

 decay, the effeminacy of social life, the almost exclusive and 

 unremitting ei^ercise of the mental faculties, and a conse* 

 quently superinduced morbid, nervous susceptibility, cause 

 disease to appear in the sockets of the teetji, which produces 

 their expulsion, although the bodies of the teeth themselves 

 may be perfectly sound. That peculiarity of which both modem 

 find ancient social life aifords abundant examples, is frequently 

 found to have existed in the sockets of the teeth of the ancient 

 JIgyptians,* but never to have been observed in races of men 



* Morton's Crania Americapa. 

 VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX. — JAN, 1846, M 



