Anatomy of the dental system, human and comparative / by Ph. Fr. Blandin ; translated from the French, for the American journal of dental science, by Robert Arthur.

  • Blandin, Ph. Fr. (Philippe Frédéric), 1798-1849.
Date:
1845
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Anatomy of the dental system, human and comparative / by Ph. Fr. Blandin ; translated from the French, for the American journal of dental science, by Robert Arthur. 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.

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    INTRODUCTION. The recent progress of comparative anatomy has rendered it very difficult to give, what has not yet been satisfactorily done, an exact definition of the teeth. To say with Beclard, that they are little bones, implanted in the alveoli of each jaw, would be to confine ourselves within too narrow limits; this definition not embracing the teeth of some animals; as, for instance, the pala- tine and pharyngeal teeth of fishes. On the other hand, to adopt the definition of more modern zoologists, and call the teeth opposing bodies, placed at, or near, the entrance of the alimentary canal, for the purpose of seizing and grinding the food, would be to fall into an opposite difficulty, and to confound with the teeth, parts which have, perhaps, little analogy to them; the greater part of the masticatory organs of the invertebrated animals. Obliged, however, to characterise my subject, at the outset, I, at once adopt the definition of Cuvier, and call the teeth: me- chanical instruments, harder than the bones, placed in verte- brated animals, at the entrance of the alimentary canal, and des- tined to seize and separate the nutritive substances, or to serve as means of attack and defence. Circumscribed, even in this manner, the natural history of the teeth is still a subject of considerable extent, and embraces, in man, and in the series of animals, a great number of facts, which, notwithstanding the differences they appear to present, at first sight, are reconciled to each other by remarkable analo-