Now that we have made our good friend's acquaintance, we will wish him farewell, and I will presently introduce you to his companions of the antechamber, who are ranged on the two sides of the door, to make the toilettes for the visitors who present themselves, and to put them in order for being received in the drawing-room. You will see there some jolly little fellows, who are also very useful in their way, and whose history is no less curious. They are called TEETH.
LETTER IV.
THE TEETH.
When you were quite little, my dear child, and still a nursling, you had nothing behind your lips but two little rosy bars, which were of no service for gnawing an apple, as they were not supplied with teeth. You had no need of these then, since nothing but milk passed your lips, neither had your nurse bargained for your having teeth to bite with. You see that God provides for everything, as I have already said, and shall often have occasion to point out to you.
But by degrees the little infant grew into a great girl, and it became necessary to think of giving her something more solid than milk to eat; and for this purpose she required teeth. Then some little germs, which had lain dormant, concealed within the jaws, awoke one after another, like faithful workmen when they hear the striking of the clock. Each set to work in his little cell, and with the help of some phosphorus and some lime, it began to make itself a kind of white armour, as hard as a stone, which grew larger from day to day.
You know what lime is; that sort of white pulp which you have seen standing in large troughs where the masons are building houses, andwhich they use in making mortar; it is with this that your little masons build your teeth.
As to phosphorus, I am afraid you may never have seen any; but you may have heard it spoken of. It is sold at the druggist's in the form of little white sticks, about as thick as your finger; they have a disagreeable, garlicky smell, and are obliged to be kept in jars of water, because they seize every opportunity of taking fire; so I advise you, if ever you do see any phosphorus, not to meddle with it—for in burning, it sticks closely to the skin, and there is the greatest difficulty in the world in extinguishing it, and the burns it makes are fearful. I give you this caution, because phosphorus possesses a very curious property, which might attract little girls. Wherever it is rubbed, in the dark, on a door, or on a wall, it leaves a luminous trail of a very peculiar appearance, which has been called phosphorescent, from the name of the substance which produces it. And in this way one can write on walls in letters of fire, to the terror of cowards. Now, come; if you will promise to be very wise, and only to make the experiment when your mamma is present, I will teach you how to make phosphorescent lights without having to go to the druggist's! There is a small quantity of phosphorus in lucifer matches, which their garlicky smell proves. Rub them gently in the dark on a bit of wood, and you will see a ray of light which will shine for some moments. But mind, you must not play at that game when you are alone; it is a dangerous amusement, and one hears every day of terrible accidents caused by disobedient children playing with lucifer matches. And while we are on the subject, let me warn you against putting them into your mouth. Phosphorus is a poison, and such a powerful one that people poison rats with bread-crumb balls in which it has been introduced.
"Oh dear me! and that poison makes part of our teeth?"
Exactly so, and it even forms part of all our bones, and of the bones of all animals; the best proof of which is, that the phosphorus of lucifer matches has been procured out of bones from the slaughter-house. One could make it from the teeth of little girls if one could get enough of them.
Now I see what puzzles you, and well it may. You are asking yourself how those little tooth-makers, the gums, get hold of this terrible phosphorus, which is set on fire by a mere nothing, and which we dare not put into our mouths; where do they find the lime which I also protest is not fit to eat, and yet of which we have stores from our heads to our feet?