148 



THE HORSE. 



343. The horse, when full-mouthed, has forty teeth, as follows : — 

 Twelve incisors, six above and six below, four canine teeth, or tushes, 

 one on each side of the upper and lower jaw (the mare has no canine 

 teeth), twelve pre-molars (three on each side above and below), and a 

 like number of molars similarly disposed. 



344. The marks on the crowns of the lower incisors are an 

 indication of the horse's age up to eight years. The indication marks 

 in the lower jaw are nearly worn out in the central incisors at six 

 years, in the lateral at seven years, and in the corner incisors at eight 

 years old (Plate XXV. and text). In an old horse, with well-formed 

 teeth, artificial marks are sometimes burned in, to give the animal the 

 appearance of being young. This process is called Bishoping, (so named 

 from the man Bishop, who introduced it,) but it is readily detected, 

 as the enamel round the depressions is destroyed in the operation. At 

 the age of from nine to ten years, the teeth change their shape, and 

 begin to turn triangular, and long. At ten years, the upper corner 

 incisor on the outer aspect presents at the top, close to the gum, a 

 dark yelloiiJ groove, which, as the horse grows older, extends down the 

 middle of the tooth until, at the age of twenty-one years, it reaches the 

 bottom. When this mark is present — for it is not always so — it is a 

 very good indication of the age ; but see Plate XXVI. and text, which 

 is after " Galvavxe." 



345. The Number of Teeth in our domestic animals is as 

 follows : — 



Animal. 



Horse 



Ox 



Sheep 



Dog 



Pis 



Anterior 

 Canines. Pre-niolars. 



Pre- 

 molars. 



Molars. 



Total. 

 40 

 32 

 32 

 42 



44 



The top figures represent the upper jaw, and the lower figures the under jaw. 



346. If there is one thing more than another that should command 

 the attention of the country practitioner, it is dentition. The 

 condition of the teeth, at times, creates various disorders, disease, and 



