42 Dr Giant on a Fossil Tooth JbuTid in Red Sandstone 



surfaces of quadruped's teeth which I possess, from the diluvial 

 caves and from (he chalk rubble, where they have been exposed 

 to much moisture, and I have not found the enamel reduced to 

 this coodition, although I have often found the osseous substance 

 of such teeth reduced to a much softer condition, as in the ivory 

 of mammoth"'s tUbks. Besides, the walls of the fossil tooth are 

 homogeneous in texture from the outer to the inner surface, and 

 of equjl density on both surfaces, which could not be the case, 

 were it composed of a thick layer of enamel covering a softer 

 sheath of bone, as in quadruped's teeth. With regard to the 

 curves described by the margin of the exposed base of the fossil 

 tooth, they require only to be examined with a lens to observe 

 their smoothness and symmetry, and to see that they constitute a 

 part of the original formation of the tooth, which would form a 

 remarkably expanded base, were they drawn out to one regular 

 curve.* I send you some teeth of the common Lophivs piscaio- 

 r'lvs, or angler-fish, which consist of a simple osseous crown, with 

 an expanded corrugated base and wide rough cavity, nearly of 

 the size and form of the fossil tooth, to show you in what man- 

 ner that curved outline, so remarkable around the base of the 

 fossil, is commonly produced in the teeth of fishes. 



And now I have given you my principal anatomical reasons, for 

 questioning whether this be really the tooth of a wolf or of any 

 other quadruped imbedded in the sandstone rock, which is all that 

 you hijve given me time to do. I should like to have had lei- 

 sure to compare its form with that of a series of the teeth of the 

 larger o^seous fishes, whe?'e I have no doubt, from the infinite 

 variety of foims they present, that a hundred forms like this 

 could easily be found. Indeed, Aom the great variety of forms 

 presented by the teeth of the same fish, I could nearly match 

 this fossil from the jaws of the Lop'iius and Lepisosteus before 

 me. The original soft and spongy fish-like condition of the base 

 of the forssil tooth, is still indicated by the particles of sand which 

 you m«y pe«ceive have sunk into its substance, and from the ex- 

 tent to which ihe red oxide of ii'on has permeated and coloured 

 that part of 'he tooth. The teeth of fishes have generally a dark 

 colour in calcareous and argillaceous deposits, from their osseous 

 texture and the abundance of animal matter in that bony sub- 

 stance, but in siliceous deposits like this, they have a lighter co- 



