Excerpt from The Mouth and TeethWhat do we mean by anatomy? As we shall consider it, anatomy is the science which treats of the structure of the body.While we know in a general way that the body is composed of minute particles, or atoms, we should learn as much about the composition, development and use of these structures as is pos sible, so that we can keep the body in good health, as nature intended.We think our young readers will agree with us, and that they would tell us, should we have the pleasure of talking with them in person, that their bodies are made up of bones, muscles, fat, nerves, arteries, veins, blood, hair, nails and teeth. But to tell how many bones, nerves and blood vessels there are, and how they are distributed throughout the body, would be a difficult and useless task.So we are going to tell you something about your body, to give you a better idea of how it is made up, but we will pay more attention to the mouth and teeth, as the mouth is the main entrance to the body and requires great care to maintain good health. We know that the framework of the body is made up of bones, but no doubt you never thought that this framework contains two hundred bones of all shapes and sizes, classified according to shape and use, namely, long, short, flat and irreg ular. They are all very important, so that if one of them were missing we would be crippled or imperfect.The face contains fourteen bones, and the head eight. You will learn about the rest of the bones of the body as you advance in your studies, but the bones of the face and head which form the cavity of the mouth will be the starting point, or foundation of our study in this book. And even of these, there are too many for you to learn of at this time, so we will begin by telling you about those which form the lower part of the face and the mouth, or the upper and lower jaw.These bones are placed in such a manner that they form a cavity or hollow place called the mouth, which contains glands, teeth, tonsils, the tongue and other structures. There is a very soft, delicate lining in the mouth called the mucous membrane, which has somewhat the same duties to perform as do the skin of the body. The lips Open or close the mouth at will.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis 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.