like an Awl, and so do more readily penetrate a Substance that is hard, and which the Incisores can scarcely make any Impression upon. And as the Parts of a more solid Body are commonly with more difficulty separated, and there must be a greater stress put upon those Teeth which pull it into pieces; so these Teeth are much more firmly fixed in the Jaws than the Incisores, tho' they have but one single Root. Besides, the Position of all these Teeth is accommodated to their use, as being planted opposite to the Aperture of the Mouth; so that they may be conveniently apply'd to the Substance which we have to eat, before it is broken, and when it is too large to be admitted within the Mouth.
The Teeth which do by a Compression and Attrition reduce the little Morsels to smaller Parts, are from the manner in which they break the Aliment, called Dentes Molares, because they do, like so many Mill-stones, grind the Food between them. And that they might be render'd fit for this purpose, they are made broad at that Extremity, which stands out of the Gums, by which means they retain some Quantity of the Food between them every time the lower Jaw is pulled up and forc'd against the Maxilla superior. And as they are broad, so they are formed with Inequalities and Protuberances; and by the motion of the lower Jaw, from one side towards the other, they grind what they have between them into pieces. The Position of these Teeth too is as convenient as that of the Incisores, and the Dentes Canini: For being design'd to break those pieces of our solid Food, which are taken into the Mouth, and these pieces, when they are compress'd, and mov'd by the Dentes Molares, being apt to fly out of the Mouth, if there were no Contrivance to prevent it, they are placed beyond the Aperture of the Mouth, and opposite to the Cheeks, which keep the