The Horse's Mouth, Showing the age by the teeth

by Edward Mayhew

Such contradictory indications admit of being to a certain degree reconciled. The representations of the tables are correctly given, but, in the living mouths, these were corrected by the appearances of the teeth themselves. The incisors of the horse which was twenty-eight years old had suffered but little wear. An unusual degree of hardness, or an extraordinary power of self-preservation, contributed to keep them, so far as the tables were concerned, in appearance, young, long after the season of youth had passed. Almost from the fifth year the tables would seem to have suffered but a very gradual change; for even when twenty-eight, these parts do not indicate the horse to be more than “aged.” The absence of wear may, in some measure, be attributed to the kind of food which the animal had consumed, it having been chiefly fed from the manger; and also to its being of a quiet disposition, or not inclined to bite and snap when the groom was dressing it. The want of wear, however, did not necessitate the cessation of growth, which went on at the natural rate; therefore, though the tables had a very youthful look, the teeth were, nevertheless, unusually long, and gave to the mouth a decided appearance of age. Their colour, and the removal of almost every vestige of the crusta petrosa, together with the general appearance of the horse, was sufficient to awaken those suspicions which would warn the practitioner. The eccentricities, however, which particular parts can exhibit, will teach the student, that a conclusion should only be drawn from observation and comparison of all the various signs which the teeth present. No sign can be singly relied on; but, by weighing the evidence, and placing the contradictory indications in opposition, something approaching to truth may, even in extreme age, be deduced; though such deductions, for obvious reasons, ought to be expressed with caution, and never, under any circumstances, positively advanced. Mr. Henderson, the respected veterinary surgeon to Her Majesty the Queen Dowager, possesses in his museum many interesting specimens of the teeth. Among the rest, he has the jaw of an animal which was ascertained to have reached the thirty-eighth year. This preparation, however, exhibits no sign that could characterize the extreme age which the horse had attained, and I allude to it, only as a confirmation of the opinion I have expressed, that, as the period of life advances, the mouth of the horse becomes more and more difficult of interpretation.

57. The tricks, that are practised on the teeth, are so much talked about and so generally feared, that the subject demands a few words in explanation. The breeders are known to extract the milk teeth, hoping thereby to hasten the growth of the permanent incisors, and to increase the apparent age of the colt. The gums they are likewise known to touch with the hot iron, or to freely lance for the same purpose. All of these practices are common enough; but that they accomplish the design of the persons who employ them is not at all certain. By either of these practices the animal is pained, and pain does not favour development, but, on the contrary, retards it. The suffering, however, may be brief, yet the effect does not stop there. If the milk tooth is firm in the mouth, when the attempt is made to extract it, in nineteen cases out of twenty, it will be broken and the fang left in the jaw. When the extraction of the milk teeth has been general, I have seen numbers of horses, with the broken fangs in their mouths, palpable evidences that the animals have been tampered with. But, supposing all of the tooth to be removed, nothing would be thereby gained. The permanent tooth does not push out the temporary; nor does the temporary, so directly obstruct the coming up of the permanent, as to render its presence or absence of much consequence. If the fang be removed, there may be nothing to absorb, but on that account it does not follow that there will be anything more deposited. The body of a man does not grow larger because one or more of his limbs have been amputated. On the contrary, the shock occasioned to the system by the operation, and the consequence ensuing on the loss of blood, may cause an immediate diminution of the frame. So, if a horse’s tooth be drawn, the animal is alarmed, tortured—and, if the creature recovers from these effects very speedily, so that no loss of growth could be estimated, certainly the most favourable circumstances would not allow us to imagine any stimulus to development had been created. There will be some loss of blood, and this, however slight it may be, nevertheless being taken from the immediate part, must act as a local depletion. Now to deplete is to check growth by abstracting the very source of nutriment. The hemorrhage, however small, must be injurious; and the mouth being made more or less sore, the inclination to feed, as a natural consequence, is diminished, thereby further checking the development. I cannot see in what manner the extraction of the milk teeth is to hasten the growth of the permanent incisors; but I can perceive that the operation may have the opposite effect; and I have known the practice to have been followed by the non-appearance of the very tooth, the protrusion of which through the gum, it was employed to quicken. The tooth, which previously seemed to be on the eve of piercing the gum, after the extraction of the milk incisor never came up,—nor will any person who has thought for an instant, wonder if the violence, necessarily used, does occasionally injure or rupture the delicate vessels and gelatinous tissues of the pulp. More often the breeder’s impatient interference breaks the tooth off at the neck and leaves the fang in the jaw. This he has not the skill to extract, and as it is not afterwards absorbed but speedily assumes a dark colour, it remains a tell-tale and an eye-sore during the life of the animal. Had the colt been left alone, the fang in a few months would, by the natural process, have been absorbed: but the force which broke the tooth, though incapable of extracting it, probably ruptured the delicate tubes of the absorbent vessels. The broken member is left in the mouth, either to act as a foreign body, or to become united by anchylosis to the jaw, and continue for life a deformity. The folly of the practice will surely on reflection be evident to all; and the other means employed for the same end are in a like degree injurious. The breeder will consult his own interest best by studying the feelings of his animals. For the sake of profit, if not for the love of humanity, he had better cease to torture the poor beasts by which he hopes to gain. Suffering will neither engender spirit, growth, or fat, and the market pays price for each of these. The mouth of the horse is too important towards the value of the animal to be ignorantly mutilated. Let the mind reflect, before the hand is permitted even to use the lancet. To lance the gums of the human infant was once a favourite practice; nor has the custom at the present time fallen quite into disuse, but it is generally resorted to only during the cutting of the primary teeth, and not commonly adopted to facilitate the appearance of those teeth which the horse-dealer employs it to quicken. In the latter case, on man the gum lancet is not employed; and, if found useless on one animal, a strong inference is created as to the inutility of constantly experimentalizing with the instrument upon another. By incising the gums a wound is created, the part is thickened, and a cicatrix induced; the effects of which are to cause an impediment to the growing tooth; and this being seen and corroborated by practical observation, the best dentists and surgeons of the present day are not very enthusiastic in the use of the gum lancet, which they have in a great measure cast aside, and which is beneficial only in scientific hands. The loss of blood likewise is to be considered, and that certainly aids in retarding the growth, which the adoption of the other means, general with the breeders of horses, could not accelerate. The employment of the cautery, to expedite the appearance of the teeth, is so strange a resort, that I can only account for the use of that agent by imagining certain persons to be totally ignorant of its action. In the first place, it destroys the part with which it comes in contact; inflammation follows and suppuration ensues; a quantity of blood is diverted to the surface, and of course drawn from the pulp of the new tooth, which originally it flowed to and nurtured. A slough must take place, and the mouth remain sore till the escar is thrown off and the exposed granulating surface cicatrized. But wherever the hot iron is applied the immediate part is thickened, rendered more hard and tense. Which of these effects is it the horse-dealer regards as likely to promote his wishes? A little knowledge would inform any one, that the cautery must act in the opposite direction to that, which it is supposed, by ignorant people, to favour. Indeed, I do not think, that horse-dealers or others have yet obtained so great a mastery over nature, that the dame can be made to hurry at their bidding, however cruelly their orders may be enforced. A “Yorkshire five” may sound well, but there is no more possibility of making a four-year old colt, by barbarity, show the development of a five-year old horse, than there is, by wrenching, cutting, and burning, of making a boy of fifteen look like a man of twenty. Nature obeys her own laws, and is not yet subjected to human practices. Careful rearing, nutritious food, sufficient exercise, and no work does promote development, and of the growth thereby engendered, the purchaser has no reason to be in fear; for if one part shows maturity, he may be assured, that the other parts are also equally matured. The time the animal has lived is not of half the consequence, that the use which has been made of its life is, to the future possessor. The horse that has a mouth indicating five, and that can be proved to be five, if it has been worked from its earliest year and stinted in its food, has less energy and life than a younger creature forwarded by the fostering care of the breeder. The two animals are not to be compared. Supposing the one to be no more than four, it possesses the vigour and development of five; while the other, which is five, may have the decrepitude and constitutional infirmity of twenty. Let not the buyer fear the deceit of the breeder, but without dread accept the mouth as proof of the age; if the animal is not in years, he is in development, that which the teeth declare. To this conclusion, however, some will oppose their opinions. The animal, they will argue, has been stimulated to exhibit an unnatural maturity, and the seeds of future disease have thereby been planted in the system; therefore, it will be urged, the worth is depreciated. The statement looks well, but it is of no value, for a little inquiry will prove it to be based on false principles. Excessive stimulus checks the growth, or causes early disease, sacrificing either the health or life of the being. The feeder knows, from experience, that the quantity of nutriment must be measured by the powers of the creature that consumes it; and that over-feeding, by impairing the digestion, destroys or weakens rather than nurtures the body. The stimulus, pushed beyond a certain point, would keep the horse in the infirmary, and never fit it for the market. Every dealer knows this, and though such persons are, by the prejudice of the public, obliged to keep their animals loaded with fat, or in what is called “bloomy condition,” they nevertheless fear to maintain this state of body for too long a period; and while it lasts, constantly resort to drugs, to counteract that tendency to disease which it engenders. They treat their stock, almost as a physician would treat so many city aldermen; and give dinner or digestive pills almost as regularly. A fatted beast is always diseased, but an animal liberally fed is thereby rendered the more healthy. In fact, the dread of those results which ensue from comfort is, with regard to the horse, quite as unfounded as the fear, that mankind once had, of the “miseries of the rich,” and the envy, poets taught them to indulge, towards the starvation of the poor. Such idle fancies may be dismissed with profit to the person who discards them; but at the same time there are some practices the reader needs to be cautioned against. To give the face of the horse a youthful appearance, some of the class of dealers who frequent public markets, low auctions, and country fairs, puncture the skin at that part where the falling or depression is seen above the eyes in old animals. Having inserted into the orifice a small quill, they then blow into the part, thereby inflating the subjacent tissue, and concealing the cavity. This notable artifice, which is called “puffing the glym” ought to impose upon no one. Should the trick be suspected, let the hand be carelessly raised to pat the neck and cheek of the animal, when it can, under pretence of likewise stroking the face, be passed over the part which is supposed to have been tampered with; and in the act a little pressure may be made upon the suspicious region: then, if the swelling has been induced in the manner stated, the passage of the hand is sufficient to squeeze out the air, and the contrast which the two sides of the face will afterwards present, gives to the countenance of the poor horse, a very knowing and peculiar expression. Let the person, however, who thus undertakes to expose roguery, be assured of his ability to protect himself in the office he has assumed; for the gentlemen who display their ingenuity on horses, are not averse to occasionally mutilating the human frame. To lay bare and detect such low, mean, and obvious cheatery, as the above, properly belongs to the police; and the least acute of the force, ought to be equal to the detection of so gross an imposition. The swelling, when caused by inflation, always has an unnatural aspect, such as a school-boy would find no difficulty in recognising, after his attention has been directed to the point. It looks puffed, and when the jaw moves, the part does not play freely with the motion. These circumstances, at a glance, declare the cheat which the pressure of the hand can, in an instant, prove to have been practised. The artifice, however, when adopted, ought to be of no avail. Young horses often exhibit the depression above the eye, of great depth; nor is it unusual to see old animals, in which the cavity is naturally shallow. The qualified judge, therefore, glances at, but never permits the state of, the part, to influence his decision; and the trick, when resorted to, can impose only on those who are too vain to acknowledge their ignorance, or too mean to pay for protection. Other indications are of greater worth, and to these, observation is directed. The roundness or flatness of the cheek, the sharpness or fulness of the lower jaw, no art can imitate: these, consequently, receive more attention. The eye is directed to the mouth; and still supposing the reader to be present at such places as the parties who practise tricks with horse flesh mostly frequent, let him be thought desirous of purchasing the animal, and therefore proceed with an examination: it will not be long before the teeth will be inspected. When the lips are separated, the incisors may be long and horizontal in their inclination; and, by the time this is noted, the seller probably has volunteered the information, that the horse he is most reluctantly obliged to part from, was six years old last grass. The expression of surprise such a statement elicits, is answered by oaths as to the fact, and direct accusations of ignorance against any one who would assert the animal to be a day older. The jaws are pulled asunder, and all the marks are seen. Here is proof; no man who knows anything of horses, he is told, would reject such evidence; and a host of ready bye-standers stare at the mouth, and only doubt if the creature is full six yet. The judge also looks at the marks, and then walks away: he has formed his opinion, and the sight of the marks confirms him in the conclusion he had arrived at. The absence of the police may caution him not to expose himself by noticing the shout of defiance, and bellowed taunts, that signalize his retreat; but he has seen the animal is a “bishop.” Now what promoted the poor brute to ecclesiastical dignity? The term in horse slang, simply means that the marks are not natural, but have been made. There are two means by which that can be done. When time presses, and tools or skill are wanted, the tables of the teeth are touched only with a red hot wire, which leaves a black mark wherever it is applied. This, however, is a coarse expedient, and the more usual practice is, to dig out the cavities with a kind of engraver’s tool, and then to blacken the spaces thus created. The infundibula are imitated with much nicity; but the resemblance, however close it may be, never for a moment imposes on the qualified judge. The shape of the table, characteristic of the old tooth, cannot be altered, nor can the edge of enamel, which should gird the infundibulum, be artificially produced. Moreover, many of the people who “bishop” horses, are content to perform the operation only on the lower jaw, leaving the upper teeth untouched, because these are not generally inspected. Should such be the case, of course the marks will be more or less faded, where naturally they would be most fresh; for the infundibula of the lower jaw are lost some years prior to those of the upper disappearing. The attempted deception, therefore, is never successful, save when the “copers” are fortunate enough to meet with a “flat,” who has just knowledge enough to be very wise in his own conceit. It must, however, be remembered, that the lower class of dealers are not limited in their transactions, and often dispose of animals to persons of respectability; therefore, it is not unusual to find horses standing for sale at commission stables, with mouths of a most conspicuous character. The owners of such horses may be gentlemen of the highest probity, and in ignorance the age may be mis-stated. For this reason, no man should purchase a horse of any individual, without having the animal previously examined by a certificated member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. The money so spent, is the smallest item in the account; and the sum saved by following this rule is often disproportioned to the expenditure,—to make no estimate of the disappointment and vexation which may be prevented. Respectable dealers will not knowingly allow the character of their stables to be injured by the presence of a “bishoped” animal. This class of persons are very scrupulous in that respect, but they are not always able to detect the truth—their education is often limited, and though good ordinary judges, they cannot, under every circumstance, decide correctly—they unconsciously deceive, being themselves deceived; and consequently every purchaser should take the precaution pointed out, no matter whence, or from whom, he may be buying a horse. Were all to act in the way indicated, much law would be spared, and a great deal of anger allowed to slumber. The dealers are not the rogues the enlightened public are fond of believing—many among them are as honourable as all men should be—some of the class, however, never let a horse escape out of their hands unmutilated. The teeth invariably receive the primary attention: if long, they are, by the application of a file, reduced to the length which the self-taught equine dentist supposes proper to youth. An acid is also applied to the enamelled surface, in order to render it white. No vast good is effected, but if the means were not designed to impose, no great harm would perhaps be done. The acid is not allowed to corrode the tooth, and the diminution of the length may possibly in some degree benefit the animal. The welfare of the creature, however, is not the object sought—the hope is to cheat; but no person who ought to be trusted, or even to trust himself to purchase a horse, should be so imposed upon. Whiteness is no sign of youth in the tooth of a horse, and the file cannot make the tables assume the juvenile figure. Horses that show such mouths, may be easily recognised—perhaps they are quiet while their legs are handled, but shy when the head is touched—they are not vicious, but timid, and the teeth tell the reason of their fear. It is well to pass them by, and dangerous to accept them at any price. If the teeth have been tampered with, what tricks may not have been practised to conceal other defects?

58. Irregularity of growth in the horse’s teeth, should, in all cases, be early noticed, and speedily attended to, for so much of the worth of the horse depends on the animal’s ability to feed, that it may be said, “no teeth no horse.” The milk teeth are so regular in their growth, that I have not been able to hear of, or meet with a specimen, in which they were eccentric. The permanent teeth, however, are not unusually irregular; the most common irregularity which they exhibit, is that of retention of one or more of the milk incisors, and this more frequently is to be seen in the lower than in the upper jaw. Mr. Ernes, of whom I have before spoken as an excellent judge of the teeth, and a most able practitioner, was kind enough to show me the mouth of a cart horse which was under his care; the lower jaw had eleven incisors, but of these five were milk teeth. The appearance which the mouth presented was rather that of some foreign animal than of an ordinary horse. The bone had become deformed, and the gums were in several places in an inflammatory condition. Mr. Henderson possesses a most curious preparation of the lower jaw of a horse, in which there is exhibited eleven permanent teeth. The appearance which this specimen presents is extraordinary, and the existence of such a monstrosity, showing the extent to which nature may violate her own laws, deserves special attention. The possibility of so great a variation being encountered, will prepare the mind to expect and to consider the less marked deformities, which in practice are not unusually met with. It is not unusual to find horses with eight teeth in one jaw, two of which are generally, on inspection, found to be retained milk incisors. The milk teeth, if allowed to remain after the horse incisors are fairly up, often give to these last a very strange appearance. The following wood-cut depicts the mouth of a mare, to which my notice was directed by Mr. Henderson, the gentleman to whose generosity I have before had occasion to confess my obligations.

The corner milk tooth here not having been extracted after nature had failed to remove it by the process of absorption, has caused the last permanent incisor to take an unnatural situation, where, being removed from attrition, it has become of extraordinary length, and looks as much like a curious tush as the thing it really is. Such a state of the mouth is far from rare, and because of its frequency, being the more likely to be met with in practice, it was chosen for illustration. The molar teeth are less subject to distortion, but, nevertheless, are sometimes irregular, and from the same causes. I have seen the palate pierced by a tooth which grew in an unnatural direction. The treatment, in both cases, would be alike. The milk teeth should never be allowed to remain in the mouth after the corresponding permanent teeth are fairly up. If removal prior to this period does no good, now the operation is suggested by its accordance with the natural process, and the sooner it is undertaken the better: any delay will only create difficulty, and render the restoration of the displaced tooth, more problematical. The unabsorbing fang, will, in time, become united to the bone; and if its extraction is then attempted, fracture of the jaw may be the consequence. In no instance should the stable keeper be told to pull out the teeth: he has not the proper instruments for the purpose, and must use unnecessary violence even if he does no greater injury. The animal, besides, is rendered shy of him, in whom it is essential it should be educated to repose confidence; and many a horse, by the bungling efforts of such people, pretending to operate, is ultimately rendered dangerous in the stable. Moreover, the horse owner cannot be too seriously cautioned, against giving permission to those who attend on his animals, to overstep their lawful limits. In the first instance he may, perhaps, congratulate himself upon the result, but speedy experience will convince him, to his cost, of the danger of the system. If the operation should have been delayed so long, as to allow the teeth to have become of unequal lengths, then, after the milk incisors are extracted, the permanent teeth must be rendered level; and, however far apart they may at first be, in time they will approximate. The operation, which is recommended, any Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons will execute; and, as in skilful hands, it is never dangerous, so it should, on no account, be entrusted to quacks or pretenders. For some irregularities, however, there is no help; for instance, when the lower jaw exhibits only four permanent incisors, which is by no means unusual, and which, in the majority of cases, could be traced to the efforts made to extract the corner milk teeth, before the time had arrived for their removal. An animal with such a mouth is obviously deteriorated. The lessened number of its teeth may be of little consequence while it is young and kept in the stable. During the earlier years, the corner nippers, which are those most frequently wanting, are not in perfect apposition, nor are the incisors of so great importance, when the food is to be pulled from the rack or gathered from the manger. But at grass, especially in old age, when horses are most frequently turned out, and when the spreading of the semi-circle brings all the teeth into play, none can be spared. The absence of one-third of the nippers in the active jaw, would then cause the animal more work for its livelihood, and probably counteract all the benefit which “the run” was intended to produce, even if more serious evils did not ensue. The eccentricities of the teeth should always be regarded, to conjecture how far they may retard the welfare of the horse. The presence of an additional molar in each jaw is sometimes seen, and is hardly to be counted a defect: such supernumerary teeth are generally posteriorly situated, and of small size; they may cause no inconvenience, and their existence not be suspected during the life of the animal. The reverse, however, is the case when an extra tooth is found only in one jaw. I am indebted to Mr. Dunsford, a gentleman who pays more than usual attention to every case entrusted to his care, for a fine specimen of the evil which may result from an abnormal molar. In the lower jaw, on the near side, are seen seven molar teeth; and the last has, from the absence of attrition, grown to a length which caused it to do serious injury to the mouth. The teeth are placed one behind the other in a perfect row; hence, as well as from their all being of the full size, one, the last in position, was occasioned to project, forcing itself through the gum, even into the substance of the superior maxillary bone. The horse was destroyed, having become useless, in consequence of its inability to masticate its food. Another defect in the molars is observed, in these teeth sometimes being placed apart from one another, leaving interspaces between them, in which the food accumulates, and inflaming the gums, causes the animal much pain whenever it attempts to feed. For this, nothing can be done, beyond giving the poor beast its meat artificially prepared; but with all care the unfortunate animal becomes emaciated, and is speedily consigned to the knacker. Fortunately, however, the molars are not often irregular in their growth. In fact, most irregularities of the teeth must be carefully sought for, but one form which is not rare by any means ought to be always observed. In certain animals the lower jaw is so short, that the creatures cannot place the incisors together or in apposition: the consequence is, that the lower incisors being active instruments, have to perform their functions at considerable disadvantage; but, nevertheless, they act and receive wear. The upper incisors, however, are, in such mouths, subjected to little attrition; the corner, and a portion of the lateral nippers alone, meeting each other; hence the central nippers, which grow more forward than they ought, at length project downwards, and overhang those of the lower jaw. This arrangement of the incisors constitutes what is called a “parrot mouth,” because of the resemblance which the teeth bear to the bill of the bird. Most old horses are more or less parrot-mouthed; but young horses also occasionally exhibit mouths of this description, and in these last it is certainly a defect, for in a state of nature, or at grass, the animal would be necessitated to tear rather than bite its food. The proprietor of such a beast, therefore, can or ought never to turn the creature out, but keep it constantly in the stable, and under many circumstances this would entail inconvenience and expense. There is nothing to be done for such a malformation, but an allowance should be made for it in the price. That the reader may be able to recognise it, a copy of a mouth, in which the deformity was well marked, is here presented. The animal, which was introduced to my notice by my talented friend, Mr. Broad, of Paddington, was twenty-one years of age; and though more conspicuous cases of the kind are sometimes seen, the one I have chosen for illustration shows a rather greater malformation than is usually met with; but, nevertheless, it well illustrates the point upon which I have been dwelling.

The molars sometimes wear unevenly, their edges becoming as sharp as knives, and their tables slanting in an unnatural degree. The slanting tables cannot perfectly comminute the food, so that which is swallowed, not being properly prepared, affords little sustenance; while the sharp edges cutting the inside of the mouth, and causing it to ulcerate, render the animal, from the pain, disinclined to eat. The contraction of the bones of the lower jaw, in some old horses, by disabling them from bringing the tables of the molars in perfect apposition, is the cause of these teeth assuming such a shape; for in young animals this species of distortion is never witnessed, save as the consequence of disease. The horse not feeding, attracts the attention of the groom, and rarely does his intelligence detect the cause. Any member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, however, will soon discover the seat of mischief; by reducing the cutting edges of the molars, and invigorating the constitution, while the ulcerated mouth is properly treated, and the food carefully attended to, he will soon restore the horse once more to health and activity. The proprietor, however, must ever after have the horse, from time to time, attended to, as the symptoms denote a relapse; and with such precaution the animal may continue in full work for a number of years. Not a few horses show the edges of the incisor teeth perfectly rounded, so that when the mouth is closed the tables no longer touch in every part; indeed the form of the tables is destroyed, and the age of the animal can by them hardly be conjectured. These rounded teeth have been supposed to denote crib-biting, and gentlemen have for fifty years been told, to set down every horse presenting such a mouth, as a confirmed cribber. The notion, however, is not supported by fact, for cribbers generally exhibit even mouths; and I have not yet been able to discover an instance in which this habit had caused the tabulated surfaces of the teeth to be convex. The round form of the tables results from the horse biting when being groomed, and generally is seen in those which are of an excitable nature. These animals are usually good servants, but this shape of teeth unfits them for being turned out to grass, as the cutting edges of the nippers are destroyed.

59. The diseases to which the teeth of the horse are subjected, are, fortunately, not very common; though this assertion must not induce any person to imagine that his animals may not be afflicted in this respect. Every owner should be particularly watchful on such a point; for so important are the teeth to the welfare of the animal, and so difficult of cure are neglected cases of this description, that numbers of valuable horses have been and will be slaughtered, simply on their account. No animal is exempt from this species of affliction. One man may during his life possess many horses, and die without knowing how fatal are the diseases of the teeth. Another person, whose stable shall contain but a single nag, may, in a few months, be taught how dreadful are the ravages which this affection can induce. All therefore should, for the security of their property, be aware of the first indication of this species of disease. Though the teeth are not vital organs, and the course of the malady is generally slow, nevertheless, the consequences to which it gives rise are such as in every case, deteriorate the value of the animal; and, in many, nay, perhaps the majority of instances, render it alike prudent and humane to deprive the poor beast of existence. Probably I do not assert too much when I add that, in the ordinary examination of horses, little attention is paid to the condition of the teeth. The incisors are inspected to ascertain the age, and any peculiarity in these is particularly noted; but for the most part the molars are passed over without comment. Here the rarity of disease may shield the negligence of the practitioner, who, nevertheless, is in every case exposed to blame through his inattention. Such a man may pass through a long practice, and escape reproach; but, nevertheless, the first horse on which he pronounced an opinion, might have blighted his reputation, by exhibiting the disease he had taken no pains to detect. Every animal purchased of a party whose warranty might be at all suspicious, ought to be seen to feed before a conclusion as to soundness is pronounced. If then the molars are affected, the truth would be made obvious; and there is nothing can render a horse more unsound than disease of these teeth. The animal so afflicted, may, for a time, be equal to its work: yet to render it capable of exertion it requires continual care, and in the end, spite of all precaution, it may become worthless. Some means should therefore be adopted to ascertain that the grinders are free from disease, and a little corn will enable the fact to be conjectured. Should any suspicion be created, a further examination will discover the truth. The molars, in the judgment of every one who has thought upon the matter, are the teeth which, especially in aged animals, require attention. The incisors indicate the age, but they are not usually liable to disease. I have not met with a single case in which the incisors were affected, nor in which the tushes were diseased. I am, however, informed by Mr. Field, whose high reputation and extensive practice give weight to his assertion, that he has had to treat horses for disease of the incisor teeth, and has even been obliged to remove a portion of the lower jaw in order to procure relief. Other practitioners, of whom inquiry has been made, have not known such a form of disease, neither have I witnessed it: instances of this kind, therefore, are rare, and hitherto have not attracted attention. The honour of making known the possibility of their existence, belongs to a gentleman whose name is proudly associated with the science which it has so long adorned. The incisors of the colt are not, however, liable to be seriously affected: when those teeth decay, age must have advanced. During colthood, nevertheless, the teeth, if exempt from disease, may be the causes of great constitutional disturbance. Mr. Percival, the gentleman who, as editor of the “Veterinarian,” and author of the best and most elaborate works on the diseases of the horse that have yet appeared in the English language, attaches much importance to those ailments incidental to dentition. Of the consequences that may ensue from the cutting of the tushes, he adduces positive proof, and from his admirable work on “Hippopathology,” page 172, vol. 2, I cannot forbear extracting the following most valuable case:—

“I was requested to give my opinion concerning a horse, then in his fifth year, who had fed so sparingly for the last fortnight, and so rapidly declined in condition in consequence, that his owner, a veterinary surgeon, was under no light apprehensions about his life. He had himself examined his mouth, without having discovered any defect or disease; though another veterinary surgeon was of opinion, that the averseness or inability manifested in mastication, and the consequent cudding, arose from preternatural bluntness of the surfaces of the molar teeth, which were, in consequence, filed; but without beneficial result. It was after this that I saw the horse; and I confess I was, at my first examination, quite as much at a loss to offer any thing satisfactory as others had been. While meditating, however, after my inspection, on the apparently extraordinary nature of the case, it struck me that I had not seen the tusks. I went back, and discovered two little tumours, red and hard, in the situation of the inferior tusks, which, when pressed, gave the animal insufferable pain. I instantly took a pocket-knife, and made crucial incisions through them, down to the coming teeth, from which moment the horse recovered his appetite, and by degrees his wonted condition.”

The fact here recorded has certainly been generally overlooked; and Mr. Percival deserves the gratitude of his professional brethren for directing their observation to the point. Every practitioner, however, has met with instances in which the molars were implicated. There are two forms of disease to which these teeth are liable; caries, or decay, and a loss of vitality, or death. The death of a tooth has not hitherto been observed upon by veterinary authors, but it is not rare. The causes which may give rise to it cannot be accurately stated, though they may be conjectured. The vessels that nurture the fang and ramify through the pulp, are small and delicate; the alveolar cavities are thin, some of them in the upper jaw being not thicker in parts of their walls than brown paper. The force of the masticatory muscles is very great, and if any hard substance be taken between the teeth, it is easy to imagine that the minute arteries of the fang should thereby be ruptured. The effect produced upon the pulp, and the transient agony occasioned by biting a piece of hard crust, are familiar to every human being; nor can we suppose that the horse’s teeth, especially when the greater strength of its muscles is duly considered, are not liable to similar and proportionably greater injury. There may be no history to such a case, no record of the date when the occurrence took place; for the horse is not always watched during the time of its feeding, nor were it watched, is it possible that the groom would attribute the sudden exhibition of pain to the right cause. The primary effect is therefore misinterpreted or unnoticed; but after a time it is remarked that the creature is longer than its companions emptying the manger; then it begins to quid its hay,—that is, the hay is taken into the mouth partially masticated and formed into a pellet or round mass; but instead of being swallowed, the prepared morsel is allowed to fall from the mouth. Should no advice be taken, the horse becomes bad in its coat, and loses flesh. No amount of corn, or extra grooming, will restore it to condition; medicines may be administered with no better effect. The disease is strictly local in its nature, and the constitutional symptoms are only sympathetic. Should the affection still be suffered to proceed unchecked, the animal is continually moving its lips; either it is restless in the stable, or leans the head against the manger, and neglecting the food which is before it, remains dull and quiet, the eyes half closed, and the breathing quickened. A dose of medicine seems to do it some temporary good, but the purgation has hardly ceased before the symptoms reappear; saliva runs from the mouth, and the food in the manger is rendered sloppy, almost like to a mash, before it is eaten; the bones of the face at last swell; the breath becomes fetid; and a thick offensive purulent discharge issues from one of the nostrils. That discharge is not continuous; sometimes it will cease for days, and the proprietor congratulates himself that the horse is getting well; the fetor, however, remains, and after a time it breaks forth again with redoubled vigour. The animal becomes daily worse, and would linger on, but the patience of the owner is exhausted; the knacker is employed to cut short the hopeless trouble and expense, and then a hasty examination is made for the cause of all this mischief. Such is a condensed description of the customary incidents, in the order in which they ensue; but of course the intelligent reader is aware that the symptoms of disease cannot be mapped down, as though they were results obtained from inorganic matter. Such symptoms always more or less vary, though upon the whole they present sufficient similarity to enable them, in every case, to be interpreted; and hence the value of practical experience, which enables the party possessing it to recognise a fact, when not fully declared. The writer cannot, to the like extent, communicate instruction; he must condense his remarks, and be content to speak a general truth; for if he descends to particulars he becomes tedious, and that which he would teach is disregarded. Of course the symptoms vary: all may not be present, yet one or more will lead the practised mind to the seat of injury. The history, however, which has been recorded, supposes the dead tooth to be located in the upper jaw: should it be situated in the lower jaw, some difference will be presented in the effect; for then the injury is not so serious. The discharge from the nostrils does not ensue, but the inferior maxillary bone enlarges, and the breath becomes offensive. The swelling of the bone takes place immediately under the tooth which has ceased to be a part of the living frame; and at this point also an abscess forms; this bursts, and discharges an unhealthy matter: unlike ordinary abscesses, however, which, when they have thrown out their contents, close, this, notwithstanding that the orifice is dependent, exhibits no disposition to heal up: a thin stinking liquid continuously issues from the opening, which becomes hard around its edges, and the hair about which sticks out, looking coarse and ragged. Such outward and visible signs are hardly to be misunderstood; and attention being directed to the mouth, the examination of the teeth will confirm them. From one jaw will be felt a molar projecting far above the level of the rest, and in a like degree will the opposing tooth in the other jaw be found depressed—worn down actually to the gum. All is now clear; and the question is, what shall be done? In the first place the condition of the mouth has certainly deranged the digestive organs, and, where there is room for choice, no operation, however simple or apparently safe, should be undertaken while the stomach is out of order. The seat of the disease is known, but the general health is first attended to; and when that has been in some measure re-established, the great object of the surgeon is fit to be accomplished. The question is, which of the teeth are to be interfered with? One is diseased or dead, and there can be no doubt that the diseased tooth should be removed. That which is unnaturally long, obviously indicates that its power of growth is retained; and though hypertrophy is an abnormal action, teeth are not parts liable to that species of affection. The one which by its growth indicates vitality, therefore displays no symptom of disease; but the tooth that is reduced to the level of the gums, tells us that its power of self-preservation has ceased, and that its vitality is gone. If that tooth be felt, it will, in the majority of instances, be found loose, and therefore it can be easily extracted: the operation, however, is not then ended. Should the affected organ have occupied the upper jaw, a quantity of pus may flow freely into the mouth on its extraction, but more frequently such will not be the case: nevertheless, the discharge from the nostril, (should the case have been of long standing,) together with the softened and swollen condition of the facial bones, may convince the attendant that matter is locked up in the maxillary sinuses. Some writers speak of the antrum as the part most seriously affected; but I cannot find any thing corresponding to the antrum in the horse’s head. That animal has no development of this description, and therefore it only shows ignorance to operate with a special view to opening an imaginary cavity. The maxillary sinuses are spacious cells, and freely communicate with the frontal sinuses, which are also large. These facial sinuses have but a limited and kind of valvular opening into the nasal chambers, and if pus is allowed to remain within them there is little hope of cure: therefore a means must be found for its escape. To this end the finger is employed to probe the alveolar cavity, whence the tooth was taken, and it will probably prove to be of no great depth. An instrument constructed for the purpose is now used, and with it a hole is made through the walls of the alveolar, directly into the maxillary sinus—his knowledge of anatomy teaching the operator so to direct his hand that none of the important nerves and vessels, which ramify through the parts he is penetrating into, may be injured. On the withdrawal of the instrument, pus will mostly follow, but not gush forth as from an ordinary abscess. A dependent orifice has now been established, and if the case is not a severe one, that may be sufficient: if, however, the disease is aggravated, it will be necessary to trepline the frontal and perhaps the maxillary bone, leaving in each a free space, from which a circular piece has been removed. Through the superior opening, warm water is injected; but if the stench be very offensive, a weak solution of chloride of lime or of creosote may be employed, and must be daily repeated. None of the coarse applications which some ignorant persons recommend, ought to be used. A strong solution of the sulphate of copper or of zinc, by coming in contact with a large surface of granulating mucous membrane, can hardly be expected to allay its irritability, or dispose it to take on a healthy action; and a seton, forced barbarously through the orifices made with the trephine, can only exist as a foreign agent, keeping up the action which the surgeon is desirous should terminate. Gentle means are, in every sense, the ones to be adopted. Mild tepid injections are to be employed, with the intention to wash out the accumulated pus, allay the inflammation that caused it to be secreted, and correct the diseased tendency of the part. All stronger agents are barbarous; and I have witnessed animals rendered dangerously vicious by their employment. When, however, the acute stage has past; when the inflamed and secreting surface has lost its activity, not unfrequently succeeds a dull, lethargic state, which the mild treatment, hitherto advised, will not touch: now it is that stimulating injections are beneficial; and however much reason there was in the first instance to denounce their employment, they are now indicated by the soundest principles of scientific practice. Even at this time, however, they must not be pushed too far. The constitution should be stimulated, that their effect may be aided, and their continuance necessitated for the shortest possible period. The sulphate of copper or of zinc; the acetate of copper or of zinc; the chloride of zinc or of lime; the nitrate of silver or of mercury; the black or yellow wash, in strength proportioned to the symptoms, may here be of service. It is well, however, to remember that these agents soon lose the efficacy, and the greatest benefit, therefore, is obtained when they are occasionally changed on the first sign of their potency decreasing. Still injections alone cannot be expected to effect a restoration, and, therefore, topical measures must be combined with constitutional treatment. A course of mercury may be tried, or some of the many agents, which, like balsams, peppers, and essential oils, act on the mucous system, can be administered,—never, however, relying upon any one medicine for too long a period; but, as in the previous case of injections, changing it wherever the drug appears either to have no effect, or to have lost its power over the system. By such treatment, actively employed and combined with a proper attention to exercise and diet, the case must be aggravated indeed which is beyond relief. The cure, however, we must not expect to be quick; but it will generally in the end be realized. Perseverance may be required, but barbarity will not hasten success. I object to many of the practices which the veterinary professors of the London College inculcate to their pupils; because those practices, in my opinion, being based on false principles, are needlessly severe. Of the potent solutions habitually employed at the St. Pancras School, I have spoken; but there is another practice to which I have not alluded: corks are forcibly thrust into the holes made by the trephine, under the notion that by such means the opening can be kept free, and the wound uncorked and corked up like the mouth of a bottle. Mr. Percival has spared me the trouble of exposing the folly of the idea, and the inutility of the practice. That gentleman tried the notable experiment, and found that the cork in no degree delayed the consequence it was employed to retard. The presence of a foreign body thrust into immediate connexion with a diseased surface, and violently there retained, must cause excruciating agony—promote serious irritation—and might lead to the worst possible results. The ignorance should indeed be gross, which could conjecture such a vulgar resort was capable of inducing the slightest benefit. Equally objectionable is the custom recommended by the veterinary professors, of shutting an animal up in a close stable, and causing it to inhale the fumes of chlorine gas. Chlorine is an irritant to mucous membranes. If the nasal cavities were the seat of the disease, the passage of the air being rapid through these channels, and retained for a comparatively long period in the bronchia, the supposed remedy would be far more likely to affect the lungs, than to act immediately on the part which it was intended to benefit. In respiration, however, it is not probable that even during health, any large quantity of air enters the sinuses, which, in these cases, are the seats of the disease; and when those cavities are blocked up by an abnormal secretion, none could possibly gain admittance to them. Chlorine, therefore, obviously is inoperative in the direction where its remedial agency is desired to act; and it does some injury. It violently affects the animal which requires to be soothed; causes it to endure much inconvenience and even suffering; produces quickened respiration with violent cough, and may be reasonably supposed to lay the foundation of subsequent disease. The advantages of its employment have not been demonstrated, but the results of practice rather show it to be injurious. By the members of the veterinary profession it is not generally used: gentler measures are of greater importance, and these ought, only under very peculiar circumstances, to be abandoned. There, however, yet remains to be described, the mode of proceeding when the diseased tooth is seated in the lower jaw. In that case, a sinus or canal, discharging an unhealthy matter, is present. No treatment will cause that sinus to close, while the diseased tooth is retained; and until its removal is effected, all applications designed for that end are thrown away. After the tooth has been extracted, a solution of sulphate of zinc may, with advantage, be daily injected, and constitutional measures at the same time adopted, till an altered action has been called forth, when the annoyance will quickly cease. The enlarged bone will, however, remain; and, in the majority of cases, it may be best no further to interfere with it, than by the external application of such agents as are likely to promote absorption. In such cases, however, no means are very speedily beneficial, and time must be given for their operation: but should the deformity be great, the firing iron may be employed to cause exfoliation of the part. Yet as in the removal of one blemish, it is not justifiable to create another, the violent agent must be applied after a particular manner. The integument should be first divided, and the edges of the incision drawn asunder, so as to expose the bone, which alone should be touched with the cautery. By this simple expedient the osseous structure will be destroyed; and as such structure is not highly sensitive, the suffering of the animal will be slight, while after exfoliation has taken place, the trivial cicatrix will be concealed by the hair. When caries is present, the symptoms do not materially differ from those described as indicating the death of a tooth. The disease may commence at any part of the fang or crown; but the structure which it generally first involves in the horse, is the crusta petrosa: for however far the caries had proceeded, I have usually recognised it working from this substance into the ivory. The crusta petrosa is the least osseous, and most vascular of all the structures that enter the composition of the tooth. In proportion to the vascularity, may be estimated the disposition to assume disease; and when it is further remembered that the crusta petrosa being the external, is the most exposed portion of the tooth, and that any wrenching action, or other violence, would first affect this part, the dullest comprehension will perceive why the crusta petrosa is likely to be the primary seat of caries. Enamel is not subject to caries, nor is it otherwise involved than by being deprived of its supports, and chemically acted upon by the decomposed matters with which it is in contact. The ivory, however, may, in exceptionable cases, be the original seat of the affection; and when decay has commenced, this part of the tooth is speedily diseased. When caries begins, there is only partial death of the tooth; but the portions which retain their vitality and are becoming affected, cause excruciating fits of agony. Before anything can be perceived by manipulating the molars, the animal may exhibit frequent slight fits of illness, being occasionally dull—off its feed—sluggish at its work—soon fatigued—resting the head on the manger, and displaying symptoms of transient attacks of fever. On other days the animal is lively; eats well, looks well, and works well, and is all the owner could desire. Something is evidently wrong, but as yet all is doubt: then the hay is quidded and another examination of the molars is made, when there may be detected a little roughness on some part of one of those teeth, and the mystery is explained. There may be no, or a very slight increased growth of the molar, which, in the opposing jaw, corresponds to that which is evidently carious. The carious tooth may be firmly implanted; and yet, notwithstanding the firm manner in which it is fixed in the jaw, no time ought to be lost in its removal. The operation may occupy some time, and should be conducted with proper caution if the horse be young; and I have by me a molar taken from the jaw of a colt that was rising four, in which the crusta petrosa was diseased. A wood-cut representing that tooth, is inserted at page 29; and the darker spot indicates the place where decay had commenced. During youth the fangs of the molars are of great length, consequently, any violence would be likely to do injury to the thin plates of the alveolar cavity. In old animals the fangs being shorter, greater speed may be allowable; but in every instance where the tooth is firm, judgment must be exercised. Supposing the horse to be young, the following method will be found to answer:—The precise position of the tooth having been ascertained, and the animal cast, traction, with a proper instrument, is made in the right direction. In the first attempt the force is not designed to extract the tooth; if it can be perceptibly moved or raised upward, so that the nerves and arteries of the pulp may be broken or ruptured, a great point has been gained, and the molar should be no further drawn in the first instance. The instrument should be then loosened, and another hold having been taken, a renewed effort should be made, when a little additional way may be gained. After this, a further hold should be taken, and thus adapting the grasp of the instrument to each pull, and proceeding gradually, the molar may be extracted. The operator, however, must not, in every instance, anticipate that he will be thus successful. The tooth may be perceptibly moved, but after this it may resist all subsequent attempts. The surgeon will become aware that only great force could accomplish his wishes, and he will therefore reflect whether the employment of the necessary violence might not fracture the jaw as well as extract the tooth. Something has been gained by rupturing the arteries and nerves. The pain and course of the disease has, in a degree, been checked. The molar is no longer a part of the body, but a foreign substance; and Nature, if left alone, will proceed in her own way to eject it. The course, however, that Nature, if unaided, would pursue, might be too slow to prevent evil consequences. The operator, therefore, discontinues his attempts for the present; and though some foolish persons will think slightly of him, for not at once doing the thing he desired to accomplish, he orders the animal to be let up, and led back into the stable. Many a proprietor has been so displeased by this, that he has thereupon sought other advice; and the next operator has pleasingly surprised him, by extracting, with ease, the tooth which the first wisely forbore to wrench out of the jaw. The fact is, that the time which intervened had made a material change; the molar had become loose, and he who properly refused in the first instance to drag it forth, would now, had he been permitted, have taken it out without difficulty. Indeed in every case where the operator is made conscious of great opposition from natural causes, it is better to cease all attempts for the present—to wait for a week or two, and then renew the trial; and even make a third effort, after a like pause, rather than by unjustifiable violence hazard an accident, perhaps more fatal in its consequences than the evil which it was desired should be removed. The course of the malady allows the surgeon to exercise his patience, without effort; and even if danger threatened, his principles teach him that force is never justifiable. Gentle, resolute, and collected, must such a person be at all times: the violence he seems to employ is but the proper application of his art, and the speed he appears to make is but the graceful use of the time and means at his command. Often does he to the ignorant appear to be idle, when he is only anxiously waiting for the proper time to commence his operations; and frequently is he accused of precipitation, when he knows that activity alone can crown his efforts with success. Let there then be no authority exercised over him whose painful duty it is to deal with disease. The means at his command are confessedly small, the end to be accomplished is acknowledged to be great. The labour is harrassing, the result is dubious, and any interference can but deteriorate from the success of the issue. A wise person will therefore see often, observe much, and think long, before he presumes to suggest anything to a medical practitioner, and never will a command issue from his mouth. All, however, within and about the stable, are, for the most part, in their own conceits, qualified to cure the horse; and curious are the suggestions obtrusively volunteered, and the judgments pronounced during every operation. Frequently, indeed, is the animal sacrificed by the ignorance of its anxious attendants, who, in their zeal, will often, out of their scanty wages, purchase injurious nostrums, notwithstanding a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons may be in regular attendance. Happily for the teeth, no specifics are yet declared, and the groom is therefore unwillingly obliged to be idle. The owner should also be passive, seeing that which is ordered is administered, and taking care that no charms are employed. When the tooth that was carious is in the early stage extracted, the animal is by a little constitutional treatment, afterwards quickly restored, but from time to time will require attention; for the teeth that have once been operated on, will, at intervals, ever after during the life of the horse, need the hand of the surgeon. If caries, however, is neglected, and proceeds to the last stage, cure is all but hopeless. During the death of a tooth, the symptoms are continuous. In caries, there are intermissions, seasons of uncertain duration, during which the horse appears to be free from suffering; but the effects, if not so rapid in their development, are more frequently fatal in their termination. When a tooth has lost its vitality, it becomes a foreign body, which Nature, in time, will cast out. The retention irritates the surrounding structures, but the irritation may in part be regarded as a restorative process. When caries takes place, a portion only dies, but that portion has all the injurious effect which could be attributed to the former case, and even more, for the remaining vitality in the unaffected part of the tooth, prevents Nature from resorting to that process by which she would otherwise cast off the dead matter. In consequence of this, a foreign substance is retained for a longer period, and at the same time disease is progressing. Here, therefore, is an additional cause at work, and hence the excess of effect. The arteries which nourish the pulp, and the crusta petrosa, proceed from the vessels which nurture the bone, and supply the mucous membrane of the sinuses with the means of secretion. The same, likewise, may be stated of the nerves going to the tooth, and though through these last the constitution is affected, it is mainly through the agency of the blood vessels, that the sinuses become diseased. Hence the necessity for decision, and the need of judgment, in the application of the remedy. To enforce the foregoing remarks, and convey to the reader a slight idea of the consequences which ensue from a carious tooth, the accompanying wood-cut is introduced. The specimen selected for illustration, does not exhibit a rare or extraordinary proof of the results of this species of disease.