A manual of dental anatomy : human and comparative / by Charles S. Tomes.

Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of dental anatomy : human and comparative / by Charles S. Tomes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    15/614
    MANUAL OF DENTAL ANATOMY HUMAN AND COMPARATIVE. CHAPTER I. THE DENTAL TISSUES. 'I'liE range of the subject of Dental Anatomy turns ujjon the meaning which is attached to the word Tooth; but, although this chapter might most appropriately open with a definition of this word, it is very much easier to explain what is ordinarily understood by it, than to frame any single sentence wliich shall fulfil the requirements of logical definition. Most vertebrate and a great manj' invertebrate animals have certain hard masses in or near to the orifice of the alimentary canal, i.e., the mouth ; b}' these hard masses, sometimes of bony and sometimes of horny nature, various offices in connection with the prehension or com- minution of food are perfoi-med, and to them the term tectii is a])plied. But whilst in Home animals these functions are performed liy horny bodies, recent researches have shown that at all events in several cases these horny toetli are superimposed upon true tooth germs, calcified to some extent, which they supersede, and the exact relation of the (Mie to the other recpiires rui'tiier elucidation. In