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Man almost everywhere has so overlaid by art his original instincts, that the problem of deciding his natural food, as Sylvester Graham wisely argues, is very like that of deciding on the natural food of an extinct species from the evidence of its anatomy. If our organs were wholly those of the carnivora, or wholly those of the herbivora, no one would doubt for a moment; but neither of the two can be truly asserted. We must consider various points in detail.
Teeth. The teeth of the Mammalia are—1. Incisors or cutting teeth. 2. Canine, cuspid (i.e. pointed) or eye-teeth. 3. Bicuspids (i.e. two-pointed) or small cheek teeth. 4. Molars (i.e. grinders) or large cheek teeth. In each jaw we have 16, viz., four cutting, two pointed, four double-pointed, and six grinders. These, in a perfectly normal state, form an uninterrupted series, all nearly equal in length and closely approximated in each jaw.
1. The Incisors in man are large, broad and compressed, with a flat edge. In carnivorous animals there are six in each jaw, small and pointed, standing further apart, and comparatively unimportant. In the herbivora they are broad, as in man; but generally much stronger, with the cutting ends considerably thicker, but varying extremely both in form and number. In the ruminantia (who chew the cud) there are no cutting teeth in the upper jaw, and those of the lower are flat, broad, and oblique, so, as to oppose their upper surface to the callous gum above. In the horse they are large and strong. In the hog also they are strong, those of the lower jaw projecting obliquely. The elephant has no incisors in the lower jaw, and the two in the upper assume the form of huge cylindrical tusks. The rodentia (or nibblers), such as the rat, beaver, &c., have long curved incisors.
2. The Pointed, or canine teeth, assume their normal development in the carnivora; and to these there is no resemblance in the teeth of man, though his possession of what are called canine i.e., dog-teeth, is the principal evidence urged by those who contend that man is partly carnivorous. Throughout nature there are no sudden departures from the general type. Any organ which is characteristic in one class or order disappears by successive gradations through several other orders, till it finally vanishes, or becomes merely rudimental, as the fifth toe of the dog, and the nipple on the male human breast. Such is the case with the canine teeth. In the carnivora they are powerful weapons of offence. In some of the herbivora, as the horse, camel, and stag, they are still pointed and large. In man they are small and short, and no space is left between the opposite teeth for receiving the canines. If anyone will insist that they denote in men a flesh-eating propensity, he must in consistency hold the same yet more vehemently concerning the horse and the camel; so too concerning the baboon and other large apes.
3. The Bicuspids, or false molars, are wanting in the rodentia,
