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A MANUAL OF DENTAL ANATOMY. 



In the few animals which I have examined (*), however, I 

 have found that this conception does not at all adequately 

 represent what really takes place \ it seldom, perhaps never, 

 happens that a tooth is attached directly to a plane surface 

 of the jaw which has been formed previously ; but the union 

 takes place through the medium of a portion of bone (which 

 may be large or small in amount) which is specially developed 



FIG. 89 ( 2 ). 



to give attachment to that one particular tooth, and after 

 the fall of that tooth is itself removed. 



For this bone I have proposed the name of "bone of 

 attachment," and it is strictly analogous to the sockets of 

 those teeth which have sockets. It is well exemplified in 

 the Ophidia, a description of the fixation of the teeth of 



( a ) Transactions of the Odontological Society, Dec. 1874. "Studies on 

 the Attachment of Teeth." 



( 2 ) Section of tooth and a portion of the jaw of a Python, showing the 

 marked difference in character between the bone of attachment and the 

 rest of the bone. 



