646 THE EXTERIOR OF THE HORSE. 



Aristotle recommended this same procedure, but he preferred the 

 skin of the lips to that of the forehead. 1 " If," says he, " in raising 

 the skin from the lips, it is promptly retracted, the animal is young ; 

 if it remains wrinkled for a long time, he is old." 



3. Examination of the Nodes of the Tail. The practice 

 of this ancient procedure, upon which Minot, one of our associates, has 

 particularly insisted, is no more positive than the preceding. 



What Minot 2 called nodes or knots are nothing more than the 

 prominences formed upon the lateral surface of this appendage by the 

 transverse processes of the first coccygeal vertebrae. The first of these 

 nodes should appear between thirteen and fourteen years, should be 

 altogether distinct at fourteen and one-half years, and should show 

 a depression behind at fifteen years. The second should be distinct 

 between seventeen and eighteen years, and the third at twenty-one 

 years. 



These lateral projections of the coccygeal vertebrae are, perhaps, 

 most marked in very emaciated subjects, but their prominence only 

 appears to indicate this to us. We likewise consider the caudal exam- 

 ination as being useless. 



4. Examination of the Teeth. This is the only positive ex- 

 amination. It comprises two steps : 



1st. The examination of the incisors upon their anterior surface. 



2d. That of their tables, of the tusks, and of the molars. 



First Step. The observer stations himself on the left side ; the 

 two lips, seized with the open hand, are separated from each other. 

 If the animal offer any resistance, the right foot is raised without 

 being given a point of support, and, if necessary, he is subdued by the 

 application of a twitch to the ear. 



It is then easy to recognize : 



a. If the incisive arcade is composed of teeth of the first or 



of the second dentition, or of those belonging to both. 



b. If the teeth are normal in number. 



c. If they have the normal situation, direction, and dimen- 



sions. 

 I d. If they correspond with one another reciprocally. 



e. If their anterior face and their free border are intact. 

 /. If, finally, they have not been subjected to fraudulent 

 practices. 



1 Aristotle, Hist, anim., t. i. p. 401. 



2 J. Minot, Appreciation des chevaux d'apres les caracteres du pouls et 1'examen des formes 

 ext6rieures, Paris, 1850, p. 244. 



