CHARACTERS FURNISHED BY THE TEETH. 51 



CHARACTERS FURJTISHED BY THE TEETH. 



The reader may, perhaps, have wondered why we should 

 have gone into such minute detail in the anatomical description 

 of the teeth, but an accurate knowledge of all these details is 

 absolutely necessary, when we take into consideration the slow, 

 insensible, and variable wearing, producing ^often only trivial 

 changes, which are, however, important guides. 



Washed incessantly, rubbed, used, and broken as the teeth 

 are by the action of the saliva, the lips, the cheeks, the tongue, 

 and the food which the animal takes, we have to take into con- 

 sideration every detail of their structure, their position, the breed 

 and general condition of the animal, and the surroundings in 

 whicli it has been raised. A thoroughbred with dense bones 

 and hard teeth will wear the latter away much more slowly than 

 a coarse-boned, lymphatic, common horse with softer substances 

 in the teeth. The character of food to which a colt has been 

 accustomed will stimulate or diminish the functional activity of 

 the tooth, and, while hard substances would naturally wear a 

 tooth faster than softer food, yet the animal which has been 

 raised on the former will often have harder teeth than one 

 which has not had to use them so severely. 



Any one who has only been* accustomed to examine the 

 mouths of horses of one section of country will find that he 

 must extend his ideas and adapt himself to a new condition of 

 things, when called upon to judge of the age of horses from 

 another region. 



If a horse's mouth presents exactly the characters which 

 indicate a certain number of years of growth, we say that it " is 

 — years ;" if it has not quite attained the age, it is described as 

 " rishig — years;" if it has passed the period and has not yet 

 attained the markings of another year, it is counted as " — 

 years off," 



The natural division of the two periods of age, as indicated 

 by the temporary and the permanent teeth, is subdivided as 

 follows : — 



1. The period of eruption of the incisors of first dentition. 



