330 DIFFERENCES OF THE TEETH. 



Dogs (Hond-Eyland), on the west coast of Greenland. " The 

 incisors," says this anatomist, " are flat from before back- 

 wards, and short, instead of having a cutting edge ; hence 

 they resemble grinders more than cutting teeth." Mr. 

 RiECKE, who presented me with this cranium, said that the 

 inhabitants of Hond-Eyland eat their meat raw. "They 

 move their jaws in a very singular manner, and make seve- 

 ral grimaces while chewing and swallowing. It was the ob- 

 servation of this spectacle that induced him to seek for an 

 opportunity of discovering whether these islanders possessed 

 any peculiarity of construction in their jaws or teeth." 



This account is confirmed by two Eskimaux crania* in 

 the possession of Blumenbach, which exhibit the same 

 worn appearance of the teeth. It is well known, he observes, 

 that the Eskimaux are derived from the same race with the 

 Greenlanders, and that their name has its origin from their 

 practice of eating raw flesh. 



A similar configuration of the inferior incisors was found 

 in the head of the Guanche mummy figured in Blumen- 

 bach's Fifth Decade, tab. xlii. p. 8. 



I have seen the same configuration in the heads of Egyp- 

 tian mummies, and in other instances ; and am fully con- 

 vinced that there is no real original difference in the form of 

 the teeth in these cases 5 and that the observed peculiarity 

 is entirely owing to the mechanical attrition which the teeth 

 had experienced in all the examples. As the incisors are 

 wedge-shaped, and increase gradually in thickness from 

 their cutting edge to the gums, when half worn away they 

 lose their natural appearance of cutting teeth, and resemble 

 in form those found in the crania above-mentioned. If the 

 teeth are naturally large and strong, the appearance will be 

 more marked. We cannot admit an original difference of 

 form, until it is proved by the exhibition of entire teeth in 

 which the enamel has not been worn away from the masti- 

 cating surface. At all events, the notion that the teeth grow 

 thicker in consequence of the attrition of their surface, is 

 not admissible. No point is more clearly ascertained, than 



* Dec. tcrtia, tab. 24-3. 



