XXX INTRODUCTION-. 



highly probable fact of a circulation of the colorless 

 plasma of the blood through the dentinal tubes. That 

 some elementary prolongations of nerve may also be 

 continued into these tubes, who can confidently deny ?" 



As Prof. Owen says the " teeth are always most 

 intimately related to the food and habits of the ani- 

 mal," it would be interesting and perhaps useful to 

 ascertain what effect sugar and other unnsual articles 

 of diet would have on horses' teeth. In the interest 

 of science, experiments appear to be in order. In this 

 connection the following paragraph, a part of which 

 may be found in Prof WiUiam Youatt's work, "The 

 Horse " (p. 135), the remainder in '^ The Veterinarian/' 

 is interesting: 



" Surgeon Black, of the Fourteenth Dragoons, says 

 that sugar was tried as an article of food during the 

 Peninsular War. Ten horses were selected, each of 

 which got eight pounds a day. They took it very 

 readily, and their coats became fine, smooth, and 

 glossy. They got no corn, and only seven pounds of 

 hay instead of twelve, the ordinary allowance. The 

 sugar supplied the place of corn so well, that it would 

 probably have been given abroad ; but peace came, and 

 with it corn. The horses returned to their usual diet, 

 but several of them became crib-biters. The experi- 

 ment was made at the Brighton depot, during a period 

 of three months. To prevent the sugar from being 

 used for other purposes, it was scented with assafetida, 

 but the latter did not produce any apparent effect on 

 the horses." 



