CHAPTER IV. 



THE CAITIXE TEETH OR TUSHES. 



Practically Useless. — Different in their Nature from the other 

 Teeth. — Were they formerly Weapons of Offense and De- 

 fense? — Views of Messrs. Darwin, Hunter, Bell, Youatt, and 

 Winter. — Their time of Cutting the most Critical Period of 

 the Horse's Life. 



The Canine Teeth {laniarii denies), comparatively 

 speaking, are of little practical use ; at least they are 

 of little use to the modern iiorse. They have been 

 much reduced in size during the evohition of the horse, 

 and, if Mr. C. R. Darwin's theory is correct, are prob- 

 ably ''in tlie course of ultimate extinction." They 

 distinguish the sex, it is true, but their loss would not 

 be felt on that account. The horse sometimes uses 

 them in tearing bark from trees, for he is by instinct 

 his own (botanical) doctor, and the bark is his medi- 

 cine. The sharp points of the tushes penetrate the 

 bark more readily than the incisors, and apparently 

 the horse wishes to save his incisors, thus showing his 

 horse-sense. Their nature is different from that of 

 the other teeth, for the incisors and grinders grow till 

 old age. This is not the case with the tushes, and, 

 further, they are never in apposition (superposed), and 

 consequently do not wear one another. 



The lower tushes, as before said, are about three- 

 fourths of an inch from the corner incisors, and about 

 three inches and a half from the first grinders. The 



