And thus when we say that the largest
animals have most earthy matter, we say so because such is the general
rule. Now this earthy matter is used in the animal body to form
bone. But in the larger animals there is an excess of it, and this
excess is turned by nature to useful account, being converted into
weapons of defence. Part of it necessarily flows to the upper
portion of the body, and this is allotted by her in some cases to
the formation of tusks and teeth, in others to the formation of horns.
Thus it is that no animal that has horns has also front teeth in
both jaws, those in the upper jaw being deficient. For nature by
subtracting from the teeth adds to the horns; the nutriment which in
most animals goes to the former being here spent on the augmentation
of the latter. Does, it is true, have no horns and yet are equally
deficient with the males as regards the teeth. The reason, however,
for this is that they, as much as the males, are naturally
horn-bearing animals; but they have been stripped of their horns,
because these would not only be useless to them but actually
baneful; whereas the greater strength of the males causes these
organs, though equally useless, to be less of an impediment. In
other animals, where this material is not secreted from the body in
the shape of horns, it is used to increase the size of the teeth; in
some cases of all the teeth, in others merely of the tusks, which thus
become so long as to resemble horns projecting from the jaws.
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