112 SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



animals which have no incisor teeth, and sometimes 

 indeed where there are no teeth at all, Blumenbach 

 has given it the more appropriate appellation of os 

 intermaxillare. Man possesses nothing whatsoever 

 analogous to this intermaxillary bone of brutes, but 

 it is not perhaps yet clearly ascertained that all 

 animals do possess it. 



The head of man is further distinguished from 

 other animals by having his teeth, at least when 

 adult, all about the same length, and in an uniform 

 series. Among the brutes, the teeth differ consi- 

 derably in shape, make, size, and length, in the dif- 

 ferent genera, and are separated by interstices more 

 or less wide. The canine teeth not being sepa- 

 rated from, or surpassing in length the others, is a 

 a strong peculiarity in the human structure. 



The lower incisors in man are perpendicular, and 

 are in a vertical line with the front of the jaw. In 

 brutes these teeth slope backwards directly from 

 their alveoli; the jaw also has the same inclination, 

 so that the chin, so remarkable a feature in the hu- 

 man face, is found in no other animal, not even in 

 the orang outang. 



The obtuse tubercles of the cheek teeth are also 

 very remarkable. They neither resemble the cor- 

 responding teeth in herbivorous nor in carnivorous 

 animals, but are well adapted to the mixed mode of 

 diet natural to man. 



Having thus briefly touched upon those points of 

 conformation peculiar to the human head, or which 

 have engaged the attention of physiologists, and 



