The Hunterian oration, delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons, February 14, 1853 / by Bransby B. Cooper.

  • Cooper, Bransby Blake, 1792-1853.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Hunterian oration, delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons, February 14, 1853 / by Bransby B. Cooper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    ways and means to suit animals to their various in- stinctive habits. The structure of the teeth in different classes of animals appears next to have occupied Hunter's attention; and he seems, in fact, to have taken them in this order as a link between the prehensile organs and as the commencement of the digestive apparatus; for, although in some cases, serving only as instru- ments for seizing and destroying the prey, or for the defence of the animal, the teeth must, when viewed in a more general sense, be regarded as the commence- ment of the digestive system. The first step in the process of digestion in most animals is performed by the teeth, and this process is of so much importance in the animal economy, that in cases in which the food is swallowed without masti- cation, a provision is made whereby another portion of the digestive apparatus performs the office of tritu- ration and comminution. The structure and arrangement of the teeth, as well as of the remainder of the organs of nutrition, is in- variably found in complete accordance with the kind of food by which the animal is to be nourished, and with the circumstances under which the food is to be obtained; how unsuitable, for example, would the edged and cutting molars and long pointed cuspidate teeth of the tiger prove to an animal destined to feed upon vegetable matter; and no less inappro- priate would be the flat-crowned grinders of the ox or sheep for holding a living prey, or for the tearing of flesh. The natural arrangement of the