154 THE PATHOLOGY OF THE TEETH. 



charge, it will disappear and give place to a true diag- 

 nosis when he has examined the mouth and has had 

 time to weigh and compare all the facts in connection 

 with the case. 



"It is more especially relative to diseases of the teeth 

 that is recognized the truth of the old maxim in sur- 

 gery, Sublatd causa, tollitur effect us." (The cause be- 

 ing removed, the effect ceases.) 



For putting irregular teeth in order, the surgeons 

 recommend the use of a coarse, six-inch file, with a 

 handle from twenty to twenty-four inches long. How- 

 ever, they say that in their day it was customary among 

 the "vulgar" to make the horse chew a rasp! The 

 process, which they describe, referring among other 

 things to the difficulty of getting the rasp precisely 

 opposite the projections, is too slow, as they admit, to 

 be practicable ; besides it is about as difficult to com- 

 pel a horse to chew as to compel him to drink. 



For the removal of supernumerary grinder teeth or 

 the shortening of natural ones that have grown beyond 

 the level of the other teeth, they recommend the use 

 of a chisel and a hammer ; two or three well-directed 

 blows with the latter are usually sufficient to cut the 

 largest tooth in two. The surgeon requires an assist- 

 ant or " striker." In the case of the first grinder, the 

 blows should be light, otherwise the tooth would be 

 loosened in its socket. In the case of the last grinder, 

 "it is necessary for the operator to be perfectly master 

 of the chisel at the moment of its being struck, for, in 

 escaping, it might strike against the velum palati (soft 

 palate) and cut it through." 



In performing these operations they prefer that the 

 horse shoulct be in a standing position, as when in a 



