230 DISEASES Of THE TEETH, ETC. 



LAMPAS. 



With the subject of dentition is closely allied another one 

 to which those knowing in horse matters^ but unread in 

 medical philosophy, attach great importance, yclept '4ampas/^ 

 According to D^Arbovai, the word is of French origin : it is 

 a " terme de manege'^ which has found its way into veterinary 

 medicine from the circumstance of its having been, figura- 

 tively or burlesquely, used to signify the palate or inside of 

 the mouth. What we, now-a-dayS; understand by lampas, 

 is, an unnatural prominence or tumidity of the cartilaginous 

 bars forming the roof of the mouth. These bars, naturally, 

 are pale coloured, and arched in figure ; whereas, in a mouth 

 afiPected with lampas, they are red and tumid, lose their cir- 

 cumflexure, and appear bulging, descending upon a level 

 with the surfaces of the upper nippers, and in some cases 

 even below them. This apparent augmentation of substance 

 is, no doubt, ascribable to congestion of blood ; but not to 

 that alone, for I believe in many cases there will be found to 

 be some serous and albuminous infiltration into the cellular 

 membrane attaching the bars to the hard palate : which will 

 account for the length of time they are known sometimes to 

 continue, as well as for the little relief, in regard to their 

 diminution, which in such cases attends lancing of the gums. 

 Although in young horses it is, I believe, admitted by all 

 horse people, that lampas is occasioned by the cutting of the 

 teeth, yet, in old horses, there are those who ascribe their 

 production to other causes, and imagine they have a good 

 deal to do with the animaFs state of health, or rather with 

 his feeding. That they may in some cases be the occasion 

 of tenderness in mastication, I do not deny; at the same time 

 I think I may safely aiSirm, that, in nine times out of ten, 

 the cause of loss of appetite will be found elsewhere. The 

 reason why lampas appear in aged horses, is, in my opinion, 

 as I before stated, on account of the continuance of the 

 process of growth, demonstrated to be going on through life, 

 in the teeth, with the nature and laws of which we are, in 



