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SECT. XXJI. 



OF MASTICATION AND DEGLUTITION. 



338. The lower jaw is the chief organ of mastica- 

 tion, and is supplied, as well as the upper, with three 

 orders of teeth. 



With incisores, generally * scalpriform for the pur- 

 pose of biting off small pieces, and not placed in the 

 lower jaw, as in other mammalia, more or less horizon- 

 tally, but erect, — one of the distinctive characters of the 

 human race. 



With strong conical canine teeth, by which we divide 

 hard substances, and which in man neither project be- 

 yond the rest, nor are placed alone, but lie closely and 

 in regular order with the others. 



With molares of various sizes, adapted for grinding, 

 and differing conspicuously from those of other mam- 

 malia, by possessing gibbous apices excessively obtuse. 



* I say generally : for, omitting particular examples of their obtuscness, 1 

 may remark that, in the skulls of most mummies, I have found the crown of 

 the incisores thick and obtuse. And since the more remarkable for this variety 

 have resembled, in their general figure and appearance, the singular and never- 

 to-be-mistaken physiognomy of the ancient Egyptians, observable in the idols, 

 sarcophagi, and statues of ancient Egvpt, it is probable that this peculiar form 

 of the teeth, whether owing to diet or whatever else, was peculiar to the ancient 

 Egyptians, so that it may be regarded as a natural mark or even characteristic 

 by which true ancient mummies may be distinguished from those of late 

 formation. 



I have written at large on this subject in the Philm. Trans. 1794. P. u. 

 p. 184. 



