THE TEETH. 



143 



externally it has a rounded prominence, with a groove on either side, and 

 within it is evidently hollowed. Our readers need not be told that from the 

 rising- of the corner nipper the animal changes its name — the colt becomes 

 a horse, and the filly a mare. 



At five years the horse's mouth is 

 almost perfect. The corner nippers 

 are quite up, with the long deep mark 

 irregular on the inside ; and the other 

 nippers bearing evident tokens of in- 

 creasing wearing. The tush is much 

 grown ;-^the grooves have almost, or 

 quite disappeared ; and the outer sur- 

 face is regularly convex : — it is still as 

 concave within, and with the edge 

 nearly as sharp as it was six months 

 before ; the sixth molar is quite up, 

 and the third molar is wanting. This 

 last circumstance, if the general ap- 

 pearance of the animal, and particularly before, and the wearing of the 

 centre nippers, and the growth and shape of the tushes, be likewise care- 

 fully attended to, will prevent deception, if a late four-year-old be attempted 

 to be substituted for a five. The nippers may be brought up a few months 

 before their time, and the tushes a few weeks, but the grinder is with 



difficulty displaced. 



The three last grinders and the tushes are never shed. 

 At six years the mark on the centre 

 nippers is worn out. There will still 

 be a difference of colour in the centre 

 of the tooth. The cement filling the 

 hole made by the dipping in of the 

 enamel will present a browner hue 

 than the other part of the tooth, and 

 it will be evidently surrounded by an 

 edge of enamel, and there will even 

 remain a little depression in the centre, 

 and also a depression round this case 

 of enamel; but the deep hole in the 

 centre of the teeth, with the blackened 

 surface which it presents, and the 

 elevated edge of enamel, will have 

 disappeared. Persons not much accustomed to horses have been sadly 

 puzzled here. They expected to find a plain surface of an uniform colour, 

 and knew not what conclusion to draw when there v/as both discolouration 

 and irregularity. 



In the next incisors the mark is shorter, broader, and fainter ; and in the 

 corner teeth the edges of the enamel are more regular, and the surface 

 is evidently worn. °The tush has attained its full growth, being nearly or 

 quite an inch in length, convex outward, concave within, tending to a 

 point, and the extremity somewhat curved. The third grinder is fairly up, 

 and all the grinders are level. 



Now, or perhaps at a period of six months before, the horse may be 

 said to have a perfect mouth. All the teeth are produced, fully grown, 

 and have hitherto sustained no material injury. During these important 

 changes of the teeth the animal has sutiered less than could be supposed 

 possible. With children, the period of teething is fraught withdaiiger. 



