118 HISTORY OF THE ELEPHANT. 



year, the body of the first ones is completely worn away, 

 the roots are absorbed, and every vestige of the teeth is 

 obliterated. The second teeth contain eight or nine 

 laminae, or about double the number in the first, and 

 the jaws lengthen proportionately to give them room. 

 When the second set are perfected, and have to perform 

 the whole labor of mastication, by which they are to be in 

 time worn away, the third immediately begin to form in 

 the rear of them ; and thef continue growing from the end 

 of the second to the end of the fifth year, by which time 

 the second teeth are nearly exhausted, and the third occu- 

 py their place. These third ones have twelve or thirteen 

 laminae, and are consequently much longer, that is, they 

 occupy a greater length of the jaw than their predecessors : 

 and the jaw itself of course lengthens in proportion. The 

 third set lasts from the beginning of the sixth year to the 

 end of the ninth, at the last of which periods it gives 

 place to the fourth set, on which the number of laminae 

 to each tooth is fifteen or sixteen. This process goes 

 on during the life of the animal, every succeeding set of 

 teeth consisting of a greater number of laminae, occupying 

 a greater length of the jaw, and requiring at least a year 

 longer than its predecessor to bring it to maturity. 



We have been thus particular in describing the mode 

 of dentition in the elephant, because there is nothing like 

 it in the whole animal kingdom ; and as it evinces a power 

 of reproduction without end in the teeth which those ani- 

 mals use in feeding, it may be considered as an indication 

 of great longevity ; the more so that the teeth of most ani- 

 mals are the parts of them which are apt to suffer the ear- 

 liest decay. There is something slightly analogous to this 

 in the cutting teeth of some of the rodent animals, especially 

 in those which have to gnaw bark and other hard sub- 

 stances for their food ; and these are the teeth which in 

 their substance most resemble the teeth of the elephant. 

 Those teeth in the rodent animals are, however, simply cut- 



