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sound organ at the natural rate, and the growth 

 of the diseased tooth only has been thought to be 

 stopped ; hence the amount of wear and of growth is 

 attempted to be measured ; but on consideration it 

 will be seen, that something more than the mere 

 cessation of increase has to be calculated. The 

 carious tooth had ceased to be a part of the living- 

 body, and with its vitality the organ lost its capability 

 of self-preservation. The condition of the part had 

 changed, and of the strength which vitality bestows, 

 all persons must be conscious. To argue from the 

 results produced upon dead matter, and then apply 

 the deductions to living organs, is a course which no 

 physiologist will sanction. The tooth that had ceased 

 to live, might be quickly worn down, for other 

 reasons than that it had ceased to grow. This is so 

 clear, and the inference to which allusion was for- 

 merly made so obviously untenable, that I shall not 

 longer detain the reader by dwelling upon either, 

 but proceed to state my own views of the subject. 

 I admit the teeth of the horse do grow, and only 

 doubt if the process has been properly described. 

 When the crown of the tooth first appears in the 

 mouth, the fang is not completed, and the root has 



