166 COGSWELL — ON THE HUMAN TEETH, 



What better proof of the value and perfect formation of the bone 

 and teeth do we require than among Scotchmen. A fact worth 

 remembering to those on this continent, is, that the Scotch oatmeal 

 contains the h^an, while the oatmeal used in England is deprived 

 of it, and as for the Americans what little they do use requires to be 

 well sifted, well buttered, and then taken in hovneopathiG doses. 

 The Scotchman thought it better to bless the Duke of Argyle than 

 to resort to professional skill to remedy defects. 



The indestructibility of the enamel of human teeth (compared 

 with all others) ii properly formed , except by the action of disease 

 during life, or from the force of fire when the body has been burned, 

 may be substantiated from the following : Dr. William Buckland 

 the great geologist, speaks of the teeth found in the cave at Kirk- 

 dale, Yorkshire, in 1821, among which were those of the elephant^ 

 rhinoceros, hippopotamus, bear, tiger, hyena, and sixteen other 

 mammalia, the enamel of the teeth of these lower animals, were 

 almost always in bad condition, while the human teeth found were 

 the reverse. Dr. Buckland believes that if ever an antediluvian 

 man were discovered, the fact of his being man would be ascertained 

 by his teeth. Archdeacon Tache in a communication to the London 

 Times quotes a passage from a friend and brother clergyman in 

 Wiltshire as follows i — 



" I have in my collection a part of a jaw bone, and two teeth in 

 situ, which belonged to one of the soldiers of the Tenth Legion y 

 and a tooth that once did good service among the molars of our 

 ofood Kino^ Alfred's stalwart warriors, in that time; when he finallv 

 routed the Danes between 849 and 900, some 900 years ago at 

 least." The soldier was not one who believed in carefully pre- 

 serving these organs, like an Irish woman who after having had a 

 molar removed and on being anxious to take it with her, was asked 

 by the dentist why she was so careful in preserving it? answered, 

 " Sure^ sir, do you think I want to be hunting round resurrection 

 day for my teeth." 



The teeth of mummies generally have been found in a perfect 

 state. Mr. Pettigrew, librarian to His Royal Highness the Duke of 

 Sussex, and a celebrated surgeon, famous for the great number of 

 Egyptian mummies he had unrolled, admired the perfect preserva- 



