149 



which takes the place of the second milk molar. No such tooth 

 is seen in the upper, nor in the lower jaw of M. giganteus, and 

 this tooth is entirely different in situation, form, and anatom- 

 ical relations from the other teeth, either of the primary or per- 

 manent series. Some anatomists have thought, that the Elephant 

 might have a greater number of teeth than twenty-four, if it lived 

 long enough, but this has not yet happened within the knowledge 

 of scientific men, and we are therefore obliged to content our- 

 selves with twenty-four in the elephant, as in the Mastodon. 

 Mr. Corse, in his paper on the elephant, in the Transactions of 

 the Koyal Society for 1799, gives a plate, reprCvSenting a seventh 

 tooth, and behind this is a cavity, which he thinks might have 

 contained an eighth ; but Professor Owen remarks upon it, that 

 if a tooth had existed, there would have been some remains of 

 the calcified plates ; and neither does he express his belief in the 

 existence of a seventh tooth. 



The specimen before you is an exception to the general law. 

 We find behind the sixth tooth, or ultimate molar, another tooth 

 similar to the sixth, about equal in size, and having the same con- 

 figuration ; it has four ridges and a talon in the crown. The 

 four ridges are each divided into two cusps or points, in both the 

 sixth and seventh teeth. The talon has, in the seventh tooth, 

 three points, which, in the sixth, are less distinctly marked. 

 The fangs of this seventh tooth are very long, and are curved 

 to a considerable degree ; there are two fangs supporting the first 

 ridge ; there are also two supporting the second ridge, and these 

 are curved backwards ; the others, belonging to the two posterior 

 ridges and talon, are united in one common mass. The cusps of 

 the ridges in the seventh tooth are not worn, except that on the 

 anterior and outer part of the tooth ; in truth, the other cusps do 

 not appear to have been fairly developed, and, of course, could 

 not have been in use, and, therefore, are not worn. This tooth is 

 situated nearly in a line with the sixth, and there is not that de- 

 gree of irregularity which is generally found in regard to the 

 undeveloped sixth tooth. This shows, that this tooth was on the 

 point of coming into action with all its attributes. The sixth 

 tooth had already done some work ; the two anterior cusps are 

 much worn ; those of the second and third ridges moderately 



