418 A MAXUAL 01 DENTAL ANATOMY. 



very likely due to the admixture of earth and other foreign 

 matter with the food. And, furthermore, that the occurrence 

 of dental irregularities, due to an insufficient size of the 

 arches, was comparatively speaking unknown among the 

 ruder races, whilst it has been common amongst peoples of 

 more luxurious habits for a long period of time. 



The range of variation in the size of the jaws of healthy, 

 otherwise well-developed adults is great : thus the smallest 

 jaw (occurring in a man of stout build, above middle height) 

 with which I am acquainted measures in width only 1 J inch, 

 and in length from back to front '1J inch; whilst the largest 

 (occurring in a gentleman of lesser stature ; of Basque ex- 

 traction, moreover, which makes it the more striking) ( J ) 

 measures no less than 2J inches in width and 2 inches in 

 length : and even larger dimensions are recorded in the 

 "Dental Cosmos " of September, 1876 ; the width being taken 

 between the centre of the alveolar borders at the position of 

 the wisdom teeth, and the length being measured 011 a line 

 drawn from the incisors to another line joining the two 

 wisdom teeth. 



On the whole, it must be said that there are fewer 

 constant differences between the teeth of the various races 

 of mankind than might have been a priori expected ; in fact, 

 we may almost saj 7 that the teeth of savage man are pretty 

 much what we should look upon as an exceedingly perfectly 

 formed set of teeth if we were to see them in the mouth of 

 an European. 



0) Magitot (Bullet, de la Soc. Anthropol. de Paris, 1869) says : " Les 

 liasques, par exemple, reinarquables par la petitesse extreme de leurs 

 dents. " 



