DKENCHED WITH TOOTH-FKAGMEXTS. 155 



lying position there is danger of his swallowing the 

 fragments of the teeth. If it is necessary, however, to 

 cast the horse, they recommend that the head rest on 

 the occiput, the operators being as expeditious as pos- 

 sible, to prevent the animal from swallowing the frag- 

 ments. As the nose points up, the surgeon would 

 have to be expeditious indeed in order to prevent the 

 horse from being drenched, as it were, with tooth- 

 fragments. 



The surgeons next describe an interesting case of 

 dental surgery, in the performance of which the bone- 

 forceps were used to remove the tushes. They say : 



"It sometimes happens that the fleshy and bony 

 structures of the mouth are not well proportioned, and 

 when the animal is put to work evil consequences re- 

 sult, especially if the tongue is too large for the space 

 between the branches of the jaws. A remarkable case 

 of this kind lately came under our observation in a 

 horse owned by the Earl of Clonmel. The animal, a 

 remarkably fine one, was a very hard ( puller,' in conse- 

 quence of the bit not coming in sufficient contact with 

 the sensitive bars. The space between the tushes was 

 too narrow for the tongue, which, after the animal had 

 been ridden with restraint by a horse-breaker, was cut 

 nearly through at each side. The consequence was the 

 tongue became swollen to an enormous extent, and 

 as the tushes increased the irritation, their removal 

 became necessary. They were cut off to a level with 

 the gums with the bone-forceps, the tongue was scari- 

 fied and bathed with a cold lotion, and the animal was 

 fit for work at the end of a week. 



"Perhaps at first it may seem better practice in such 

 pases to extract the tushes entirely. But when tjje 



