Chap. 16.] EXAMPLES OF TJNUSTJAL SIZE. 155 



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

 tion becomes altogether confused and indistinct. 6 



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

 form prognostics from the teeth. The number of teeth allotted 

 to all men, with the exception of the nation of the Turduli, 7 is 

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

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

 teeth than men. 8 Those females who happen to have two canine 

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

 the favourites of fortune, as was the case with Agrippina, 9 

 the mother of Domitius Nero : when they are on the left side, 

 it is just the contrary. It is the custom of most nations not 

 to burn the bodies of children who die before they have cut 

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

 we give an account of the different parts of the body. 10 



We find it stated that Zoroaster was the only human being 

 who ever laughed on the same day on which he was born. We 

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

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



CHAP. 16. EXAMPLES OF UNUSUAL SIZE. 



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

 body of each person is half the height that it will ever attain. 

 Taking it all in all, it is observed that in the human race, the 

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

 are rarely taller than their parents, the fertility of the seed 



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

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

 lation of the various letters which compose the alphabet. B. 



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

 the Turduli naturally had, hut no doubt he is mistaken. 



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

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

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

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

 casionally 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- 

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

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

 Her mother, the first Agrippina, grand-daughter of Augustus, appears, on 

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

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



10 See B. x. c. 10. 



