OF DIGESTION. 157 



First, the two central incisors of the lower jaw appear, then the 

 corresponding ones above. After this, the order is not regularly 

 backwards, for the foremost of the two grinders now appears below, 

 then that above, then the eye-tooth below, then its corresponding 

 one above, and lastly, the second grinder comes through about the 

 end of the second or beginning of the third year. When they do 

 not follow this order, dentition is generally attended with more than 

 usual irritation. The period when the teeth appear varies much. 

 " I know one lady," says Douglas, u who was born with two teeth, 

 as Richard III. says of himself." It is rather early for them to 

 appear at the age of four months, more commonly seven have 

 passed before any signs of uneasiness are discovered, and some- 

 times even twelve or thirteen. A good deal of constitutional dis- 

 turbance generally attends teething : the mouth is hot, the gums 

 itchy, and the infant rubs them with anything it can get into its 

 hands. For this purpose nothing is so good as the common ivory 

 ring ; all manner of corals and bells should be discarded, as they 

 are apt to injure the mouth, or even to be thrust into the eyes. 

 The bowels are apt to become much deranged, and require constant 

 attention. 



From the hardness of the teeth, they are not capable of growing, 

 so as to fill up the increased size of the jaws in after years. Hence 

 we see a growing child come to have spaces left between its teeth, 

 as they are removed from one another by the elongation of the jaw. 

 About the seventh or eighth year, a third grinder on each side of 

 each jaw makes its appearance, which is the first of the permanent 

 teeth, and never changes. When this one is rising above the gums, 

 the central incisors of the under jaw are becoming loose. If a jaw 

 bone be dissected at this period, and its outer part be filed away, a 

 very beautiful preparation is obtained. The first teeth are seen in 

 their places, and the second set are seen deep in the jaw, below, 

 and rather behind them, ready to rise up and supplant them. It is, 

 however, quite a mistake to suppose that the new teeth push out 

 the old ; the fact is, that they cannot get up until the old ones be 

 removed. Preparatory to the removal of the old ones, their fangs 

 become absorbed, so that they are not a quarter of an inch in 

 length ; whereas, had they been examined some months sooner, 

 they would have been found three times as long. I have a very 

 interesting specimen in my Museum to show the second dentition. 

 It is the cranium or skull of a child, in which is seen the second set 

 of teeth forcing out the first. 



