The Lip of the Hoi'se ; its Use, 221 



becomes callous, it may be necessary to touch 

 the sides of the wound with nitrate of silver. 

 Few persons are aware of the very great import- 

 ance of the lips of the horse ; they are the same 

 to the horse as hands are to man. Without their 

 aid it could not collect its food in the field, nor 

 even convey the corn down its throat. To prove 

 this the writer will give an account of an experi- 

 ment which was tried with an ass, to ascertain 

 the extent of the nse of these important organs. 

 The nerves which give feeling and sensation to 

 the lips were divided, and instantly it was per- 

 ceived that it was not aware when it touched its 

 food with them. They were entirely divested of 

 motion, and it was in consequence unable to 

 convey the oats with which the manger was 

 filled to its teeth, and by hunger it made a 

 violent efi'ort to lick up a few with its tongue, 

 but they were nearly all rubbed off before they 

 could be conveyed to its mouth. 



The age of the horse is told by its teeth, and 

 in the accompanying plate the teeth appear from 

 its birth up to six years of age. I do not intend 

 to go at length into the formation of the teeth ; 

 that being a point which can only be thoroughly 

 understood by study. It being sufiicient tor 

 general purposes to give a brief outline to enable 

 my readers to tell the age of the horse up to 6 or 

 7 years. When the foal is born, it has its first and 

 second grinders, which are large compared with 

 the size of those by which they are afterwards 

 replaced. In six or eight days after birth the 

 centre nippers make their appearance ; they are 



