rKOSFECTIVE COJNTKIVAJNCJESJ. 147 



are formed within the gums, and there they sfop : the fact 

 being, that their further advance to maturity would not only 

 beuseless to the new-born animal, but extremely in its way £ 

 as it is evident that the act oi sucking, by which it is for some 

 time to be nourished, will be performed with more ease both 

 to the nurse and to the infant, whilst the inside cf the mouth, 

 and edges of the gums, are smooth and soft", than if sec 

 with hard pointed bones. By the time they are wanted, 

 the teeth are ready. They have been lodged within the 

 gums for some months past, but detained, as it were, m 

 their sockets, so long as their further protrusion would in- 

 terfere with the office to which the mouth is destined. Na- 

 ture, namely, that intelligence which was employed in cre- 

 ation, looked beyond the first year of the infant's life; yet, 

 whilst she was providiiig for functions which were after 

 that term to become necessary, w^as careful not to incom- 

 mode those which preceded them. What renders it more 

 probable that this is the effect of design, is, that the teeth 

 are imperfect, whilst all other parts of the mouth are 

 perfect ; the lips are perfect, the tongue is perfect ; the 

 cheeks, the jaws, the palate, the pharynx, the larynx, 

 are all perfect. The teeth alone are not so. This is the 

 fact with respect to the human mouth : the fact also is, 

 that the parts above enumerated, are called into use from 

 the beginning ; whereas the teeth would be only so many 

 obstacles and annoyances, if they were there. When a 

 contrary order is necessary, a contrary order prevails. In 

 the worm of the beetle, as hatched from the egg, the teeth 

 are the first things which arrive at perfection. The insect 

 begins to gnaw as soon as it escapes from the shell, though 

 its other parts be only gradually advancing to their matu- 

 rity. 



What has been observed of the teeth, is true of the liorns 

 of animals ; and for the same reason. The horn of a calf 

 or a lamb does not bud, or at least does not sprout to any 

 considerable length, until the animal be capable of brows- 

 ing upon its pasture ; because such a substance upon the 

 forehead of the young animal, would very much incommode 

 the teat of the dam in the office of giving suck. 



But in the case of the teeth, of the human teetli at least, 

 the prospective contrivance looks still further. A succession 

 of crops is provided, and provided from the beginning ; a sec- 

 ond tier being originally formed beneath the first, which do 

 not come into use till several years afterwards. And this 

 double or suppletory provision meets a difficulty in the 



