LAMPAS. 21.0 



or inferior one that of the palate. It is called the velum iialati, or veil uf 

 tlie palate. It extends as far back as the larynx, and lies upon the dorsum 

 of the epiglottis, and is a perfect veil or curtain interposed between the 

 cavities of the nose and mouth, cutting ofi" all communication between them. 

 Tied by its attachment to the palatine bone, it w^ll open but a httle way, 

 and that only in one direction. It will pennit a pellet of food to pass into 

 the oesophagus ; but it w^ill close when any pressure is made upon it from 

 behind. Two singular facts necessarily follow from this; the horse bi'eathes 

 through the nostrils alone, and these are capacious and easily expansible to 

 a degree seen in no other animal, and fully commensurate to the wants of 

 the animal. 



It is also evident that, in the act of vomiting, the contents of the stomach 

 must be returned through the nostril, and not through the mouth. On 

 this account pai-tly it is that the horse can with great difficulty be excited 

 to vomit. There is a structure at the entrance to the stomach which, ex- 

 cept under very peculiar circumstances, prevents its return to the throat, 

 and consequently to the mouth. 



LAMPAS. 



The bars occasionally swell, and rise to a level with, and even beyond 

 the edge of, the teeth. They are very sore, and the horse feeds badly on 

 account of the pain he suffers from the pressure of the food on them. 

 This is called the Lampas. It may arise from inflammation of the gums, 

 propagated to the bars, when the horse is shedding his teeth — and young 

 horses are more subject to it than others — or from some shght febrile 

 tendency in the constitution generally, as when a young horse has lately 

 been taken up from grass, and has been over-fed, or not sufficiently ex- 

 ercised. At times it appears in aged horses, the process of growth in the 

 teeth of the horse continuing during the whole life of the animal. 



In the majority of cases the swelling will soon subside without medical 

 treatment ; or a few mashes, and gentle alteratives, will relieve the 

 animal. A few slight incisions across the bars with a lancet or penknife 

 will relieve the inflammation, and cause the swelling to subside ; indeed, 

 this scarification of the bars in lampas wall seldom do harm, although it is 

 far from being so necessary as is supposed. 



The brutal custom of the farrier, who sears and bums down the bars 

 with a red-hot iron, is most objectionable. It is torturing the horse to no 

 purpose, and calculated to do serious injury to the parts. It may be pru- 

 dent in case of lampas to examine the grinders, and more particularly the 

 tushes, in order to ascertain whether either of them is making its way 

 through the gum. If it is so, two incisions across each other should be 

 made, on the tooth, and the horse will experience immediate relief. 



THE LOWER JAW. 

 The posterior or lower jaw may be considered as forming the floor of 

 the mouth. The body or lower part of it contains the under cutting 

 teeth and the tushes, and at the sides are two flat pieces of bone containing 

 the grinders. On the inside is a foramen or hole through which blood- 

 vessels and nerves enter to supply the teeth, and some of which escape 

 again at another orifice on the outside, and near the nippers. The branches 

 are broader and thinner, rounded at the angle of the jaw, and terminating 

 in two processes. One, the coracoid, from its sharpness or supposed re- 

 semblance to a beak, passes under tlie zygomatic arch (see p. 140) ; and 

 the temporal muscle, arising from the whole surface of the parietal bone, is 

 inserted into it, and Avi-apped round it ; and by its action, principally, the 

 jaw is moved, and the food is ground. The other, the condyloid, or 



