TECUMSEH 



5728 



TEETH 



TECUMSEH, tekum'seh (about 1775-1813), 

 an American Indian chief, born near the site 

 of the present city of Springfield, Ohio. He 

 was of Shawnee and Creek stock, and seems to 

 have been able to talk both dialects with ease. 

 When he was about thirty-five years of age he 

 and his brother, Tenskwatawa, known as "the 

 Prophet," formed a great union or confederacy 

 of Indian tribes, and about 1810 Tecumseh 

 made a long trip through the Present Southern 

 States to persuade the Creeks, Seminoles and 

 other tribes to join in the plan. He was a pow- 

 erful orator, and his speeches during this jour- 

 ney are believed to have caused the Creek War 

 of 1813. 



While he was absent his own tribe was badly 

 defeated by General William Henry Harrison 

 in November, 1811, at the Battle of Tippeca- 

 noe, in Indiana; during the next year the chief 

 was appointed brigadier-general in the British 

 army, and he rendered valuable service against 

 the Americans in the War of 1812. Some his- 

 torians have stated that the United States 

 would have gained Canada had it not been for 

 Tecumseh's alliance with the British. He was 

 killed in the Battle of the Thames River in 

 Ontario, Canada. Tecumseh was a believer in 

 the primitive virtues of the red man; he pro- 

 hibited the use of intoxicants among his tribe 

 and did much to lead his followers back to the 

 simple ways of their forefathers. 



Related Subjects. The reader may consult, 

 for explanation of references and for further in- 

 formation, the following articles in these volumes : 

 Creeks Thames River, Battle 



Harrison, William of the 



Henry Tippecanoe, Battle of 



Shawnee 



TE DEUM, te de'um, a famous Latin hymn, 

 so called from the opening words, Te Deum 

 Laudamus ("We praise Thee, oh Lord"). 

 Though one of the most solemn and majestic 

 church songs ever written, it is also one of the 

 simplest, and its words have inspired many com- 

 posers to set them to appropriate music. The 

 Te Deum is sung in Roman Catholic churches 

 on occasions of rejoicing and thanksgiving, and 

 it is found in the Breviary (which see) and in 

 the Anglican prayer book. The authorship is 

 unknown, but is ascribed by tradition to Saint 

 Augustine and Saint Ambrose. 



TEETH. Like the hair and nails, the teeth 

 are an outgrowth of the skin, the growth in 

 this case taking the form of hard, shiny pro- 

 jections specially adapted for the work of cut- 

 ting and tearing food and of grinding it to a 



Pulp, 

 Cavity 



Crown 

 Neck 



Root 



-Nerve 



LONGITUDINAL SECTION 

 OF A TOOTH 



pulp (see MASTICATION). Man and most of the 

 higher animals have two sets of teeth, a tem- 

 porary and a permanent set. In the case of 

 human beings the first, or milk, set usually de- 

 velops between the sixth and thirtieth months, 

 and when the child is two and one-half years 

 old it has twenty teeth. At the age of five the 

 first of the permanent set begin to appear, but 

 the last of these sometimes do not break 

 through until the twenty-fifth year. 



Names and Structure. There are thirty-two 

 teeth in the permanent set of an adult, eight 

 in each half of 

 each jaw. In 

 each half there 

 are two incisors, 

 one canine (called 

 the eyetooth in 

 the upper jaw, 

 because it is just 

 below the center 

 of the eye), two 

 bicuspids and 

 three molars. 

 Because the last of the molars develop between 

 the seventeenth and twenty-fifth years they are 

 called the wisdom teeth. The bicuspids take 

 the place of the temporary molars, but all of 

 the permanent molars, twelve in number, are 

 entirely new teeth. 



Each tooth has three parts the crown, that 

 part seen in the mouth; the root, the part em- 

 bedded in the jawbone; and the neck, or cer- 

 vix, a narrowed portion between the crown 

 and root. The jaw is furnished with sockets 

 called alveoli, into which the teeth fit. The 

 various kinds of teeth differ considerably in re- 

 gard to the shape of the crown. That of an 

 incisor is shaped something like a chisel, with 

 sharp, horizontal cutting edges, for the incisors 

 are used to bite or gnaw off the food. The 

 canines (dogteeth) have thicker crowns, shaped 

 somewhat like a cone, with a central point on 

 the cutting edge. In the case of dogs and cats 

 the canines are very long and pointed, for with 

 them these creatures grasp and hold their prey. 

 The bicuspids are not so long as the canines 

 and are somewhat cube shaped. Each has an 

 inner and an outer point, or cusp, on the cut- 

 ting edge. Hence the name, which means two- 

 cusped. The molars, or grinders (mill teeth), 

 are provided with large crowns roughened in 

 such a way as to adapt them to crushing and 

 grinding the food. The molars of the upper 

 jaw have three roots; those in the lower have 

 two. 



