THE PROCESS OF TEETHIXG. 



227 



still be a difference of colour in the centre of the tooth. The cement fill 

 mg the hole made by the dipping in of the enamel, will present a 

 browner hue than the other part of 

 the tooth, and it will be evidently 

 surrounded by an edge of enamel, 

 and there will even remain a little 

 depression in the centre, and also a 

 depression round the case of ena- 

 mel : but the deep hole in the cen- 

 tre of the teeth, with the black- 

 ened surface which it presents, and 

 the elevated edge of emamel, will 

 have disappeared. Persons not 

 much accustomed to horses have 

 been puzzled here. They ex- 

 pected to find a plain surface of 

 a uniform colour, and knew not 

 what conclusion to draw when 

 there was both discolouration and 

 irregularity. 



In the next incisors the mark is shorter, broader, and fainter; and in the 



corner teeth the edges of the ena- 

 mel are more regular, and the 



surface is evidently worn. The 



tush has attained its full growth, 



being nearly or quite an inch in 



length ; convex outward, concave 



within ; tending to a point, and 



the extremity somewhat curved. 



The third grinder is fairly up ; 



and all the grinders are level. 

 At six years old the profile of 



the mouth exhibits the teeth in 



a firm and upright position, 



which is gradually lost as the 



animal increases in age. 



The horse may now be said to have a perfect mouth. All the teeth 



are produced, fully grown, and have hitherto sustained no material injurv. 



During these important changes of 



the teeth the animal has suffered 



less than could be supposed possible. 



In children, the period of teething is 

 fraught with danger. Dogs are sub- 

 ject to convulsions, and hundreds 

 of them die from the irritation caused 

 by the cutting or shedding of their 

 teeth ; but the horse appears to feel 

 little inconvenience. The gums and 

 palate are occasionally somewhat hot 

 and swollen ; but the slightest scarifi- 

 cation ^^rill remove this. The teeth of 

 the horse are more necessary to him 

 than those of the other animals are to 

 them. The child may be fed, and the dog 

 Avill bolt his food ; but that of the horse 

 must be well ground down, or the nutriment cannot be extracted from it. 



