TEETH AND BRAIN. 471 



ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 



TEETH AND BRAIN. 



R. WOOD BROWN, M. D. , D.D.S. 



" 'Tis the sublime of man, 



Our noontide majesty, to know ourselves 



Part and portion of a wondrous whole." 



Coleridge. 



Nature does not waste time or material. Nowhere in her wide domains can 

 we find anything in the formation of which she has produced an insufficient 

 quantity for a purpose, or a surplus of material to effect a certain end. Every- 

 thing is so nicely adapted to the wants of the creature that not anything can 

 be added or taken away without detriment to life. Nature has a method 

 of doing things, of adapting certain things to produce a certain object in a cer- 

 tain manner, and there are no deviations. To illustrate what is meant by this 

 so called adaptive modification, let me refer to the dentition of the poisonous and 

 non-poisonous snakes. The python (non-poisonous) has two rows of well-devel- 

 oped teeth in the upper jaw, and no poisonous fang ; the next, the cobra, (colu- 

 brine, poisonous) has the inner row of superior teeth small and almost useless, 

 and an immovable fang; then comes the rattlesnake (viperine, poisonous) has 

 only one row of teeth in the upper jaw, but has a large movable fang; the inner 

 row of superior teeth have disappeared because not necessary, the movable fang 

 taking its place. To illustrate further those birds that nature intended for flight 

 have some part of their anatomy especially adapted for it. Take, for instance, 

 the pigeon ; it has some of its bones hollow, with a connection between them 

 and its lungs in such a manner that when the bird is about to take its flight, 

 warm air is forced from the lung into the hollow bones, thereby enabling the bird 

 to ascend and fly more easily. This arrangement applies to all flying birds ex- 

 cept the woodcock. Only such birds as fly have warm air injected into their 

 bones, and then only in accordance with their needs. To take a third illustra- 

 illustration, those animals that prowl around, seeking food at all times and in all 

 places, have the walls of their crania very thick, while man, who is the only 

 creature that walks erect, has a very thin skull, comparatively speaking. Here 

 again is shown the adaptive modification. Nature at all times, in all places, and 

 under all circumstances shows herself to be an astute artisan, never wasting her 

 material or energy. This evening I shall prove to you that nature does not waste 

 her forces, that she does not put a human tooth into a head with an animal brain, 

 nor an animal tooth in a head with a human brain ; that as teeth decide the order 



