68 



CHAP. II. 



MASTICATION AND DEGLUTITION. 



THE food taken into the mouth, if solid, is reduced to a pulp by 

 trituration and mixture with the fluids, and then passed into the 

 stomach. The first process is termed mastication or chewing ; the 

 second, deglutition or swallowing. 



" The lower jaw is the chief organ of mastication, and is sup- 

 plied, as well as the upper, with three orders of teeth. 



" With incisores, generally a scalpriform, for the purpose of 

 biting off small pieces, and not placed in the lower jaw, as in 

 other mammalia, more or less horizontally, but erect, one of 

 the distinctive characters of the human race. 



" With strong conical canine teeth, by which we divide hard 

 substances, and which in man neither project beyond the rest, 

 nor are placed alone, but lie closely and in regular order with the 

 others. , :<;i> 



' With molares of various sizes, adapted for grinding, and dif- 



a " I say generally : for, without alluding to particular examples of their 

 obtuseness, I may remark that I have found the crown of the incisors thick and 

 obtuse in the skulls of most mummies. And since the more remarkable for this 

 variety have resembled, in their general figure and appearance, the singular and 

 never-to-be-mistaken physiognomy of the ancient Egyptians, observable in the 

 idols, sarcophagi, and statues of ancient Egypt, it is probable that this peculiar 

 form of the teeth, whether owing to diet or whatever else, was peculiar to the 

 ancient Egyptians, and may be regarded as a national mark, or even as a cha- 

 racteristic by which true ancient mummies may be distinguished from those of 

 late formation." 



" I have written at large on this subject in the Philos. Trans. 1794. P. II. 

 p. 184." 



