Excerpt from Hughes's Illustrated Anecdotal Natural History Without some means, however, of preserving the chisel-like sharpness of these teeth, the mere replace ment of wasted substance would be of little use. In order to obtain the desired result, the teeth are con structed after a very singular fashion. The body of the tooth is composed of pure ivory, coated on the outer surface with a thin layer of enamel, which being of a very much harder nature, is not worn away with the same rapidity. Besides this, the ivory nearest the enamel is harder than the rest, and the softer parts being easiest worn down, the edge of the tooth always keeps the same proportions, the actual cutting being performed with the edge Of the enamel. Our carpenter's Chisels are constructed on exactly the same principle, the chief portion of them being composed Of soft iron, while a very thin plate of steel is laid along the back and forms the cutting edge of the tool. So much for the characteristics of the rodents as a whole. Now for those of that group which are known as squirrels. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.