Note (27) — CANTO THIRD.

“It will be objected, perhaps, to what we have said, that many people who have beautiful teeth, and a healthy mouth, pay no attention to these parts; whilst those who attach a great value to them, and take the greatest care of them, have much trouble in preserving them. But it will also be an easy matter to reply to these objections, by making a comparison between children born of parents of sound constitution, and reared in the country, and those born in cities, whom an ill conducted education has predisposed to a debility of organization often to be recognised by the state of their teeth alone.—It ought, therefore, perhaps to be remarked, that diseased teeth with many individuals, originate in an organic disposition, which may be transmitted from fathers to their children.” (Gerbaux on the Teeth, Edinburgh Edition, p. 23.)