Of Teeth, and of Beak and Claw

In a fashion similar to that manifested in the shell or the horn, we find the logarithmic spiral to be implicit in a great many other organic structures where the phenomena of growth proceed in a similar way: that is to say, where about an axis there is some asymmetry leading to unequal rates of longitudinal growth, and where the structure is of such a kind that each new increment is added on as a permanent and unchanging part of the entire conformation. Nail and claw, beak and tooth, all come under this category. The logarithmic spiral always tends to manifest itself in such structures as these, though it usually only attracts our attention in elongated structures, where (that is to say) the radius vector has described a considerable angle. When the canary-bird’s claws grow long from lack of use, or when the incisor tooth of a rabbit or a rat grows long by reason of an injury to the opponent tooth against which it was wont to bite, we know that the tooth or claw tends to grow into a spiral curve, and we speak of it as a malformation. But there has been no fundamental change of form, save only an abnormal increase in length; {633} the elongated tooth or claw has the selfsame curvature that it had when it was short, but the spiral curvature becomes more and more manifest the longer it grows. A curious analogous case is that of the New Zealand huia bird, in which the beak of the female is described as being comparatively short and straight, while that of the male is long and curved; it is easy to see that there is a slight curvature also in the beak of the female, and that the beak of the male shows nothing but the same curve produced. In the case of the more curved beaks, such as those of an eagle or a parrot, we may, if we please, determine the constant angle of the logarithmic spiral, just as we have done in the case of the Nautilus shell; and here again, as the bird grows older or the beak longer, the spiral nature of the curve becomes more and more apparent, as in the hooked beak of an old eagle, or as in the great beak of some large parrot such as a hyacinthine macaw.

Let us glance at one or two instances to illustrate the spiral curvature of teeth.

A dentist knows that every tooth has a curvature of its own, and that in pulling the tooth he must follow the direction of the curve; but in an ordinary tooth this curvature is scarcely visible, and is least so when the diameter of the tooth is large compared with its length.

In the simply formed, more or less conical teeth, such as are those of the dolphin, and in the more or less similarly shaped canines and incisors of mammals in general, the curvature of the tooth is particularly well seen. We see it in the little teeth of a hedgehog, and in the canines of a dog or a cat it is very obvious indeed. When the great canine of the carnivore becomes still further enlarged or elongated, as in Machairodus, it grows into the strongly curved sabre-tooth of that great extinct tiger. In rodents, it is the incisors which undergo a great elongation; their rate of growth differs, though but slightly, on the two sides, anterior and posterior, of the axis, and by summation of these slight differences in the rapid growth of the tooth an unmistakeable logarithmic spiral is gradually built up. We see it admirably in the beaver, or in the great ground-rat, Geomys. The elephant is a similar case, save that the tooth, or tusk, remains, owing to comparative lack of wear, in a more perfect condition. In the rodent (save only in those abnormal cases mentioned on the last page) the {634} anterior, first-formed, part of the tooth wears away as fast as it is added to from behind; and in the grown animal, all those portions of the tooth near to the pole of the logarithmic spiral have long disappeared. In the elephant, on the other hand, we see, practically speaking, the whole unworn tooth, from point to root; and its actual tip nearly coincides with the pole of the spiral. If we assume (as with no great inaccuracy we may do) that the tip actually coincides with the pole, then we may very easily construct the continuous spiral of which the existing tusk constitutes a part; and by so doing, we see the short, gently curved tusk of our ordinary elephant growing gradually into the spiral tusk of the mammoth. No doubt, just as in the case of our molluscan shells, we have a tendency to variation, both individual and specific, in the constant angle of the spiral; some elephants, and some species of elephant, undoubtedly have a higher spiral angle than others. But in most cases, the angle would seem to be such that a spiral configuration would become very manifest indeed if only the tusk pursued its steady growth, unchanged otherwise in form, till it attained the dimensions which we meet with in the mammoth. In a species such as Mastodon angustidens, or M. arvernensis, the specific angle is low and the tusk comparatively straight; but the American mastodons and the existing species of elephant have tusks which do not differ appreciably, except in size, from the great spiral tusks of the mammoth, though from their comparative shortness the spiral is little developed and only appears to the eye as a gentle curve. Wherever the tooth is very long indeed, as in the mammoth or the beaver, the effect of some slight and all but inevitable lateral asymmetry in the rate of growth begins to shew itself: in other words, the spiral is seen to lie not absolutely in a plane, but to be a curve of double curvature, like a twisted horn. We see this condition very well in the huge canine tusks of the Babirussa; it is a conspicuous feature in the mammoth, and it is more or less perceptible in any large tusk of the ordinary elephants.

The form of a molar tooth, which is essentially a branching or budding system, and in which such longitudinal growth as gives rise to a spiral curve is but little manifest, constitutes an entirely different problem with which I shall not at present attempt to deal.