76 AGE OF THE HORSE. 



We will next proceed to explain as well as possible to the pupil 

 what is meant by the alveolar process. 



In the human as well as in the horse, the teeth are constantly 

 and slowly, as nature directs, moving up out of the sockets, and 

 as the teeth in the horse are smaller at the roots than at the 

 crown (as shown in cut No. 17), it will be understood, as they 

 move out of the sockets, that the further out they get the nar- 

 rower the mouth will show. 



The jaw-bone naturally contracts to fill up the space left by the 

 teeth coming out of their sockets, and as this is a gradual process 

 from the time the horse is fully developed, the older he gets the 

 narrower the jaw will show. Hence, the old horse's jaw will be 

 much narrower than the young one, as will be readily shown by 

 the cuts on pages 74 and 75. 



Another marked difference will be perceptible in the young 

 horse's mouth and teeth, which is, that the shape of the crown of 

 the teeth will be that of a half-circle, while in the old horse they 

 will show almost straight across the crown, showing the shape 

 the aveolar process leaves the old mouth in. 



It will also be noticed that the teeth in the young horse, 

 marked N, M and C, nippers, middle and corner, are entirely of 

 a different shape on the crown, while the nippers of the young 

 horse are much wider than they are thick, the old horse's nippers 

 shows much thicker than they are wide. (See pages 74 and 75.) 



We next call the attention of the reader to cut No. 23, which 

 represents the inside view of the lower jaw of an old horse, in 

 which the teeth have been sawed off, and not naturally worn off. 



Cut No. 24 represents the outside view of the same jaw illus- 

 trated in cut 23. 



Many unprincipled men have a rascally trick of sawing off the 



