men wrote in Latin, and as they ruled supreme in all such subjects as
those we are discussing, they gave to everything such names as they
pleased, without consulting the public, who did not just then trouble
their heads about the matter. Now they give Greek names, which can
hardly be called an improvement; but if they ever wish to attract the
attention of little girls they must translate their hard words into
our own language.

To return to our grinders: they perform the same office as a miller's
millstone; that is to say, they grind everything that comes in their
way. These teeth have flat, square tops, with little inequalities on
the surface, which you can feel the moment you lay your finger on them.
These are the largest and strongest of the three sets, and with them
we even crack nuts, when we prefer the risk of breaking our teeth to
the trouble of looking for the nut-crackers!

Now, I will answer for it that you cannot explain to me why we always
place what is hard to break between the _molars,_ and never employ
the _incisors_ in the work? And yet everybody does this alike--from
the child to the grown-up man--and all equally without thinking of
what they are doing.

I will tell you the reason, however, if you will first tell me why,
when you are going to snip off the tip of your thread (which offers
very little resistance), you do it with the point of your scissors;
whereas you put any tough thing which is likely to resist strongly (a
match, for instance) close up to their hinge; particularly if you have
no scruple about spoiling the scissors, by the way!

If you were a grown-up lad, and I were teaching you natural philosophy,