ANATOMICAL PECULIARITIES OF TEETH. 205 



consideration of such cases has induced me to believe 

 that these aberrant tusks may be regarded as arising 

 in the first instance as overgrowths, and that such 

 malformations being frequently repeated the tendency 

 has been transmitted to the offspring and eventually 

 perpetuated as a normal character of the male. >-- 



The various steps of such a process may be studied 

 in the pig tribe. In the wild boar the upper tusk pro- 

 jects about an inch from beneath the labial folds and 

 curves slightly upwards ; in the wart hogs it is much 

 larger and may attain a length of several inches or 

 more : in babirussa it is so strongly curved that instead 

 of emerging from beneath the lips it directly pierces 

 them. The transfixion of the skin covering the upper 

 jaw by an abnormal tusk was illustrated in a striking 

 way in the case of the celebrated African elephant 

 Jumbo. During fits of bad temper Jumbo often 

 damaged the tusks by contact with the walls of the 

 den, and at last the pulp chambers became exposed, 

 ending in alveolar abscesses of great magnitude. The 

 constitutional disturbance caused by the suppuration 

 would in all probability have ended fatally but for the 

 undaunted bravery, skill, and ingenuity of Mr. A. D. 

 Bartlett, who successfully attacked the elephant, and 

 opened the abscesses through the cheek. It was through 

 the incisions made for this purpose that the damaged 

 tusks finally emerged, thus explaining why Jumbo's tusks 

 projected through the cheeks instead of issuing from 

 beneath the lips, as in elephants generally. 



The tusks of elephants, from their large size, are liable 

 to certain injuries which could scarcely occur in a smaller 



