bones, and slice scraps no bigger than a pin's head. They keep theireyes
fixed for hours upon things they are examining through microscopes
of a dozen glasses, and when you go to see what they are looking at,
you find nothing at all. To see them at work, in what they call their
laboratories, you would say that they were a set of madmen. But at the
end, it is found, some fine day, that they have changed the face of
the earth; have worked revolutions before which emperors and kings bow
in respect; have enriched nations by millions at a time; have revealed
to the human race, divine laws of which it had hitherto been ignorant;
finally, have furnished the means of teaching little boys and girls
some very curious things, which will make them more agreeable as well
as reasonable. And this is a benefit not to be despised, since these
children are destined one day to become fathers and mothers, and so
to govern the next generation; and the better they themselves are
instructed, the better this will be done.

But now let us go back to the poor teeth, whom we seem to have forgotten
altogether. However, we knew very well that they would not run away
meantime.

I told you before that it was their business to dress and prepare
whatever was presented to them, but the reception they bestow is not
one which would suit every body's taste, for it consists in being made
mince-meat of And in order to do their work in the best way possible
they divide their labor; some cut up, others tear, and others pound.

First, there are those flat teeth in front of the two jaws, just below
the nose. Touch yours with the tip of your finger; you will find that
they terminate in sharp-edged blades, like knives. These are called
_incisors,_ from the Latin word _incidere,_ which means to cut, and it