PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 711 



acquainted." Dr. Farquliarson * meutious the invariable soundness of 

 teeth, in the remains found in the Davenport mounds. The fallacy of 

 drawing general conclusions from insufficient data is well proven by 

 such statements. A few mounds were opened in the vicinity of Kansas 

 City, and all the teeth found were sound, and the general statement is 

 at once made that diseased teeth were unknown to the mound-builders. 

 Dr. J. J. E. Patrick, of Belleville, 111., who has had a fine opportu- 

 nity for observation, says : '^ It is the exception to find a sound set of 

 teeth. - - - The marks of alveolar abscess are common ; loss of 

 molars and bicuspids are fiequent, with complete absorption of the sock- 

 ets." t The writer's observations, which have been limited, accord ex- 

 actly with those of Dr. Patrick. The lower jaw belonging to skull No. 

 2, from mound No. 3, shows an alveolar abscess under the second molar 

 upon the left side, and loss of all the molars upon the right, with com- 

 plete absorption of ihe alveolar processes. The second molar upon the 

 left was diseased, a cavity extending entirely through the crown. In 

 this specimen there was no complete loss of teeth before death, but the 

 second and third molars upon the right side are badly decayed, and while 

 Dr. Sozinsky's statement, that ",the dental profession was unknown to 

 the mound-builders," probably was quite correct, yet the owner of these 

 teeth could vouch for the fact that at least one of their number knew 

 what it was to have the toothache. The teeth of all the specimens found 

 are worn quite flat upon the crowns, and this remark apjjlies to the cus- 

 l)ids and bicuspids of all the specimens found except one. Dr. Patrick, 

 in the paper above quoted from, says he has but " two skulls in which 

 the front teeth lap over each other ; in all the other cases the masticat- 

 ing surface of the upper jaw fits perfectly that of the lower, and so with 

 all the teeth that are not missing. The incisor teeth do not lap, but Im- 

 liinge on each other at their cutting edges like the molars, and are worn 

 quite flat, so that when we look along the surface of mastication we i^er- 

 ceive that it is almost a perfect plane." This is an exact description of 

 nearly every specimen from these Naples mounds, there being but a sin- 

 gle one (No. 154) in which the incisor teeth are chisel-shaped like those 

 of our own race. This form of the front teeth is not peculiar to the 

 mound-builders, but is characteristic of savage races generally. The 

 disuse of the front teeth for the purpose of severing mouthfuls of food 

 from the mass, consequent upon the use of the knife and fork, together 

 with change of food, has materially modified the process of mastication 

 and the form of the teeth. J 

 From the authorities cited it will be found that the ancient Peruvians 



* Smithsonian Report, 1874, j). 363, 



\ Dental Fallacies, a paper read before the Missouri Dental Association by Dr. John 

 J. R. Patrick, pp. 8, 9. 



t Upon the teeth of savage races, see D'Orbigny ; V Homme Am^ricain, voL 1, p. 128 ; 

 Flint Chips, p. G2, note; Morlot, iu Smithsonian Eeport, 1860, pp. 312, 313; Indige- 

 nous E aces, -p. 297; hnhhock's Prehistoric Times, p. 538; Bancroft's yative Eaces, \ol 1, 

 pp. 25, 46, 163; Wilson's Prehistoric Man, 2{i ed., pp. 454, 455. 



