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Such contradictory indications admit of being to a 

 certain degree reconciled. The representations of 

 the tables are correctly given, but, in the living 

 mouths, these were corrected by the appearances of 

 the teeth themselves. The incisors of the horse 

 M^hich was twenty-eight years old had suffered but 

 little wear. An unusual degree of hardness, or an 

 extraordinary power of self-preservation, contributed 

 to keep them, so far as the tables were concerned, 

 in appearance, young, long after the season of youth 

 had passed. Almost from the fifth year the tables 

 would seem to have suffered but a very gradual 

 change ; for even when twenty-eight, these parts do 

 not indicate the horse to be more than " aged." The 

 absence of wear may, in some measure, be attributed 

 to the kind of food which the animal had consumed, 

 it having been chiefly fed from the manger ; and also 

 to its being of a quiet disposition, or not inclined to 

 bite and snap when the groom was dressing it. The 

 want of wear, however, did not necessitate the 



