of the Animals of the Farm. 5 



the Continent and in tins country have led to the collection of a 

 large amount of valuable evidence in reference to the develop- 

 ment of the teeth of the ox, sheep, and pig, the fact must be 

 admitted that the teeth of the horse exhibit reliable indications 

 of the age for a much longer period than those of any other 

 animal. 



The ages of cattle, sheep, and swine are to be judged with 

 accuracy only during the period occupied by the cutting of the 

 temporary teeth and their replacement by permanent organs ; 

 but a peculiar conformation of the teeth of the horse enables 

 the expert to form an opinion of the animal's age long after the 

 completion of permanent dentition. Girard carries his descrip- 

 tion of the changes which occur in the form of the tables of the 

 incisor teeth, or inore properly the nippers, up to the age of 

 twenty years ; and Mr. Sidney Galvayne, in his book on the age 

 of the" horse, gives the marks which indicate the age, according 

 to his view, up to thirty years. 



When dentition is completed, the horse has six incisors or 

 nippers in the front of the mouth in both upper and lower jaws, 

 and twenty-four molars, six on each side, in the jaw. 



In the male there are also four tusks, one on each side of 

 the upper and lower jaws, between the corner incisors and the 

 molar teeth. Small conical teeth, known as wolves' teeth, 

 appear in many instances in front of the first upper molars in 

 the colt, and sometimes remain after the temporary are ex- 

 changed for permanent teeth ; but, as merely rudimentary organs, 

 they will not require any notice beyond the statement that a 

 vulo-ar prejudice has assigned to them a special significance as 

 a cause of blindness, and on this .ground they are often punched 

 out. If this operation is roughly done it is a mere act of 

 cruelty; in any case it is superfluous. But, so far as the 

 teeth are concerned, theii" retention or removal is a matter of 

 indifference. 



It is customary to judge the age by the incisor teeth, for the 

 reason that they are more easily examined. The amateur may 

 be content to form an opinion from the mere cursory inspection 

 of the signs which are most readily observed ; but the profes- 

 sional examiner is expected to take advantage of all the evidence 

 which he can obtain by a critical inspection of molars and 

 incisors, and it is a fact that in some animals at certain periods 

 of dentition the molar teeth afford more certain indications of 

 age than the incisors. 



In the illustration on next page (Fig. 1) the temporary and 

 permanent incisors of the horse are depicted side by side, and 

 in each the following parts may be distinguished. First, the 



