prophets bite with their teeth, Mich. iii. 5. The fecond, where it is faid, He hath the cheek teeth of a lion, Joel i. 6. And both these, where it is faid, There is a generation whofe teeth are as fwords, and their jaw teeth as knives, Prov. xxx. 14. The laft is alluded to, where it is faid, While the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled. against the people, Numb. xi. 33. They had bit the flesh of the Quails, and had paffed it from the first teeth to the laft, which are the grinders, and there it ftuck till they died. And thus at length we are fallen upon the true, proper, and strict inftruments of grinding; we have hitherto been shewing the whole frame of the mill, and how feveral parts do wonderfully contribute towards this work, and now we are come to those parts, wherein the close pinch of grinding lieth, and that is in the great, broad, and hindermoft teeth, which from the day of the writing of this allegory, to this prefent time, have ever among anatomifts retained the name of grinders.

And that not without exceeding good reafon, for the form and figure of these, above the reft doth abundantly fhew that these are the fittest of them all for this work; for these are bigger, larger, broader every way; efpecially at the top, where their form is muchwhat like to that of a mill, where also they have eminent afperities, and protuberances,

exactly

exactly `answerable to the roughness of the milftones; by which the grinding is far more eafily and perfectly performed; befide, these are more firmly inclávated, and infixed into the jaw-bones, by treble, or quadruble roots ; whereas all the rest are but by single, or double at the moft; and being more strongly rooted, they are the fitter for more eminent services. Laftly, and chiefly, the experience of every man doth sufficiently confirm that this is the proper use of these teeth; and that the more folid food which needs greater manducation, cannot be fufficiently comminuated for chyle, or ground low enough for the ftomach, until these teeth have done this work upon it. And thus it is plain, that the jaws, and teeth, and eminently these last mentioned, are appofitely and elegantly called the grinders; which how much service they do to man while usable, and how much detriment and lofs they bring upon him when they ceafe from their ufe, is well known to all men. Strong meat belongeth to men of full age, Heb. v. 14. faith the author to the Hebrews. It belongs to them, and only to them because they alone have, as I may fo fay, their mill in tune, their mouth full of strong teeth, and set directly one against another, whereby they may bring the strongest meat into a meet confiftence, and a due preparation for easy digestion in the stomach. But it may here be faid, there are many creatures that are not thus ftrongly armed, and have not so

1

many teeth, nor those they have fo well fet, as your position supposeth they should be, for the due preparation of the meat; and these are the sheep, the goat, the cow, the deer, and all other creatures that have teeth only on the lower jaw, and none at all on the upper. These have no antagonist grinders, nor contraacting milftones, and yet these creatures in their full age, eat as folid food, and as hard of digestion, and withal, do as well with it, as they that are better provided in this respect. To this I must needs answer, it is very true, fo that from hence we may take occafion to admire the wisdom of God in the various formation of feveral creatures, tending notwithftanding to the ufe and benefit of them all. However this in these creatures is a want, and must have stood for a want, had they not been abundantly supplied in another kind. For all thofe creatures that are thus deficient in their teeth, and only those, are they which chew the cud, which is a re-affuming the food into the mouth, and a grinding of it afresh the second time, fo that they are fain to do that at twice, and to be three or four times as long about it, as thofe creatures whofe grinders are better placed; neither would this fuffice alone, for if they should be chewing their meat all the day long with the teeth that they have, it would never be fufficiently prepared for nourishment, were their not yet a farther pre

paration in their bodies for that purpose; and that is, that thofe creatures, and only thofe, have a peculiar veffel in their bodies affigned for this work, and that is that which anatomifts call, Omafum, and our butchers, the Read; wherein the meat must be macerated for a certain season, and by the fermentum therein contained, brought to fuch a confistence, that afterwards by a little chewing in the mouth again, it may be committed to the ftomach with the fame hopes of fuccefs, that in other creatures that are toothed on both fides, it is committed at the firft: Now, man being in the number of these last mentioned, muft for the due preparation of all strong food, trust alone to his grinders; so that the time of ablactation of the child, and of alteration of the diet of the old man, is most certainly indicated by the beginning and ceafing of the ufe of the teeth; milk is fit for babes, before their teeth come; and old men when their teeth decay, are again become fuch as have need of milk, and not of ftrong meat, Heb. xiii. 14.

Now by the ceafing of the teeth we must understand, all those infirmities that are incident to them by reason of age, whether looseness, hollowness, rottenefs, brokenness, blackness, foulness, stench, worm-eatennefs, excrefcency, or whatsoever else may be any impediment to them in their ufe. But the chief fymptom here intended is, the falling out, and confesequently

quently, the paucity of the teeth; which is gathered from the reafon here annexed, Because they are few; which is very well translated in our language, following the vulgar Latin; Otiofa erunt molentes in minuto numero. For although the original word do primarily fignify no more than because they are diminished, yet it must of neceffity be understood in refpect of their number; for otherwise they are not diminished, but do grow fo long as they remain in the head, even to the extremity of old age. But as age comes on, the natural moisture at the root of the teeth is confumed, and a preternatural is distilled thither in its room, which doth by degrees relax them in their fockets, and at length quite expel them: And when fome of them are thrust out, and but a few left in, it is easy to conceive from what hath been faid, how the chewing in the mouth ceafeth; yea, it ceaseth more, when the teeth are few, than when they are none at all. For then the gums might act one against another, and, forafmuch as they grow harder in old age, might do fomething weakly towards the chewing of the meat; but when they are few, they hinder those from working in the least, and having no antagonists (were they firm in the head which they are not) are not able to work themselves, and fo the whole grinding ceaseth; which is a very great and most certain fymptom of this ftate of weakness, and

E 2

yet