153 



" I was requested to give my opinion concerning a horse^ then 

 in his fifth year, who had fed so sparingly for the last fortnight, 

 and so rapidly declined in condition in consequence, that his 

 owner, a veterinary surgeon, was under no light apprehensions 

 about his life. He had himself examined his mouth, without 

 having discovered any defect or disease ; though another veteri- 

 nary surgeon was of opinion, that the averseness or inability 

 manifested in mastication, and the consequent cudding, arose 

 from preternatural bhmtfiess of the surfaces" of the molar teeth, 

 which were, in consequence, filed ; but without beneficial re- 

 sult. It was after this that I saw the horse ; and I confess I was, 

 at my first examination, quite as much at a loss to offer any thing 

 satisfactory as others had been. While meditating, however, 

 after my inspection, on the apparently extraordinary nature of 

 the case, it struck me that I had not seen the tusks. I went 

 back, and discovered two little tumours, red and hard, in the 

 situation of the inferior tusks, which, when pressed, gave the 

 animal insufferable pain. I instantly took a pocket-knife, and 

 made crucial incisions through them, down to the coming teeth, 

 from which moment the horse recovered his appetite, and by 

 degrees his wonted condition." 



The fact here recorded has certainly been gene- 

 rally overlooked ; and Mr. Percival deserves the 

 gratitude of his professional brethren for directing 

 their observation to the point. Every practitioner, 

 however, has met with instances in which the molars 

 were implicated. There are two forms of disease to 

 which these teeth are liable ; caries, or decay, and 

 a loss of vitality, or death. The death of a tooth has 



