5l6 ON DISEASES OF THE MOUTH. 



pulley, the animal half choked, and kept in 

 conftant pain. Frequently on the change of 

 a horfe, no care is taken to change the bit, 

 which if not fufficiently wide, holds the mouth, 

 perpetually fcrewed up as a vice. It is a ma- 

 terial part of the duty of grooms and horfe- 

 keepers, often to infpeft the infide of the 

 mouths of their horfes. 



Wolves Teeth are faid to be two fmall 

 fuperfluous ones, growing in the upper jaw 

 next the grinders, and to be very painful to 

 the horfe ; it was the old pradice to loofen 

 and wrench them out with a mallet and car- 

 penter's gouge, by which rough operation the 

 jaw was often materially injured ; granting 

 the neceffity of their extraftion, it behoves 

 the veterinary furgeon to furnilh a milder and 

 fafer method. In general, all teeth of irregu- 

 lar growth, whether inwards or outwards, 

 which, during maftication, prick and wound 

 either the tongue, gums, or lips, are ftyled 

 wolves teeth. The upper teeth of old horfes 

 fometimes over-hang the nether fo far, as to 

 wound the lips. In every cafe of this kind, 

 the file is the moft proper inftrument ; firft a 

 rough, then a fmooth or polifhing one, the 

 mouth clean wafhed after the operation, with 

 faked water warm. For loofe teeth, the gums 

 being fwollen, pun61ure with a lancet, and 

 w^afh with a decoQion of oak-bark, honey, 



and 



