THE TEETH. 63 



near its point of attachment, a separate fang being developed 

 around each portion. The eruption of the milk teeth takes 

 place in the following order : central incisors of the lower jaw 

 in the 6th — 8th month ; central incisors of the upper jaw a few 

 weeks later; lateral incisors in the 7th — 9th month, those of 

 the lower jaw first ; anterior molars in the 12th — 14th month, 

 those of the lower jaw first ; canine in the 16th — 20th month ; 

 second molars between the 20th and 30th months. 



The permanent teeth are developed in precisely the same way 

 as the milk-teeth. Their ossification begins, somewhat ante- 

 cedent to birth, in the first molar, extends, in the first, second, 

 and third years, to the incisors, canines, and pre- molars, and 

 finally reaches the second molar ; so that in the 6th — 7th year 

 there are 48 teeth co-existing in the two jaws, i. e. } twenty 

 milk-teeth, and all the permanent set with the exception of the 

 wisdom teeth (third molar). When the shedding of the teeth 

 takes place, the bony partitions which separate the alveoli of 

 the permanent, from those of the milk teeth are absorbed, 

 and at the same time the fangs of the latter gradually 

 disappear from below in a manner which is not yet under- 

 stood. The permanent- teeth, whose fangs in the mean- 

 while have elongated, thus become placed immediately under 

 the loosened crowns of the milk teeth, which finally, as 

 the others protrude, fall out and make way for them. The 

 permanent teeth emerge in the following order : first molar in 

 the seventh year, inner incisor in the eighth year, lateral 

 incisor in the ninth year, first premolar in the tenth year, 

 second premolar in the eleventh year, canine in the twelfth 

 year, second molar in the thirteenth year, third molar 

 (wisdom tooth), between the seventeenth and nineteenth years. 

 The gum in the foetus, and especially in newly born infants 

 before the eruption of the milk teeth, is whitish and very firm, 

 almost cartilaginous, whence perhaps it has also been called 

 gum-cartilage, although it has not the slightest resemblance to 

 cartilage in structure, but consists of the ordinary elements of 

 mucous membrane, but with a considerable admixture of a 

 more tendinous tissue. The bodies of the size of millet-seed, 

 contained in it, described by Serres, the so-called glandula 

 tartaricae, which were supposed to secrete the " tartar" of the 



