:iiap. 16.] EXAMPLES OF TIs^USUAL SIZE. 1j5 



he utterance of the words. When they are lost, the articula- 

 ion becomes altogether confused and indistinct.'^ 



In addition to this, it is generally supposed that we may 

 brm prognostics from the teeth. The number of teeth allotted 

 all men, with the exception of the nation of the Turduli,' is 

 hirty-two ; those persons who have a greater number, are 

 bought to be destined to be long-lived. Women have fewer 

 eeth than men.^ Those females who happen to have two canine 

 eeth on the right side of the upper jaw, have promise of being 

 he favourites of fortune, as was the case with Agrippina,^ 

 lie mother of Domitius I^ero : when they are on the left side, 

 t is just the contraiy. It is the custom of most nations not 

 burn the bodies of children who die before they have cut 

 heir teeth. We shall have more to say on this subject when 

 ve give an account of the different parts of the body.''" 



We find it stated that Zoroaster was the only human being 

 ;^ho ever laughed on the same day on which he was born. We 

 ear, too, that his brain pulsated so strongly that it repelled 

 he hand when laid upon it, a presage of his future wisdom. 



CHAP. 16. EXAMPLES OF TJNTJSUAL SIZE. 



It is a well-known fact, that, at the age of three years, the 

 ody of each person is half the height that it will ever attain, 

 'aking it all in all, it is observed that in the human race, the 

 tature is almost daily becoming less and less, and that sons 

 re rarely taller than their parents, the fertility of the Geed 



« We find in Haller, El. Phys. B. ix. c. 2, 4, 8, and in other physiolo- 

 ists, a minute account of the effects produced by the teeth in the articu- 

 ition of the various letters which compose the alphabet. — B. 



■^ See B. iii. c. 3, and B. iv. c. 35. He does not say how many teeth 

 le Turduli naturally had, but no doubt he is mistaken. 



8 Pliny repeats this statement in B. xi. c. 63, and extends it to the 

 imales of the sheep, goat, and hog. In the natural condition of the mouth, 

 le number of the teeth is the same in both sexes ; but, according to the 

 bservations of Cuvier, what are called the " wisdom "' teeth, though oc- 

 asionally deficient in both sexes, are most frequently so in the female.— B. 



9 He seems to allude to the younger Agrippina, the mother of the em- 

 eror Domitius Nero ; neither her life, her character, nor her ultimate 

 ite seem, however, to have entitled her to be called a favourite of Fortune, 

 ler mother, the first Agrippina, grand-daugliter of Augustus, appears, on 

 le other hand, to have been a woman of virtuous character, and spotless 

 dastity, without a vice, with the exception, perhaps, of ambition. 



10 See B. x. c. 10. 



