80 THE CA^'IXE TEETH. 



absolute illness being produced. Yet he who lias to 

 do with young horses will occasionally discover a con- 

 siderable degree of febrile affection which he can refer 

 to this cause alone. Fever, cougli, catarrhal and cuta- 

 neous affections, diseases of the eyes, diarrhea, dysen- 

 tery, loss of appetite, and general derangement will 

 frequently be traced to irritation from teething. It is 

 a rule scarcely admitting of the slightest deviation, 

 that, when young horses are laboring under febrile 

 affection, the mouth should be examined, and if the 

 tushes are prominent and pushing against the gums, a 

 crucial incision should be made over them."* 



Prof. Percivall says (*' Hippopathology," vol. ii, p. 

 225) : 



"There was a time when I treated the subject of 

 dentition so lightly as to think that horses never suf- 

 fered from such a cause. Experience, however, has 

 altered my opinion. I now frequently discover young 

 horses with disorders or febrile irritations the produc- 

 tion of wi]ich I hesitate not to ascribe to teething. 

 Many years ago I was consulted concerning a horse 

 which had fed sparingly for a fortnight and lost rap- 

 idly in condition. His owner, a veterinary surgeon, 

 was apprehensive about his life. Another surgeon was 

 of opinion that the ^cudding' arose from preternatural 



*Prof. Youatt's real sentiments are doubtless here expressed, 

 but, unfortunately for his consistency, on paj^e 227 of the same 

 work, in spbaking of the derangement caused by teething in 

 children and dogs, he says : " The horse appears to feel little 

 inconvenience. The gums and palate are occasionally some- 

 what hot and swollen, but the slightest scarification will remove 

 this." Perhaps Prof. Youatt, like Prof. Percivall, changed his 

 opinion late in life, and neglected to remove the blemish from 

 J J is book. 



