154 VETERINARY HOMCEOPATHY. 



is that of the presence of a space between any of the molars in 

 which partly macerated portions of food get imbedded, and ulti- 

 mately decompose, producing not only as bad a smell as a decayed 

 tooth, but as the result of decomposition damage to the outer 

 layer of enamel of each of the teeth against which it remains 

 plugged; the pressure of this foreign substance, which, as masti- 

 cation proceeds, is being continually added to, produces consider- 

 able pain and inconvenience; to obviate this difficulty, a piece of 

 good quality gutta percha should be obtained, and after rendering 

 the same perfectly soft and pliable by heat, the space should be 

 packed with it so as to fill up the cavity level with the crowns of 

 the teeth or nearly so; if a veterinary surgeon is not available, it 

 would be better to call in the aid of a professional dentist to per- 

 form the operation; and here we must point out in passing that 

 the only safe method of examining a horse's teeth that can be 

 adopted is by the aid of a so-called " balling iron," which can be 

 obtained and its mode of application explained at any veterinary 

 instrument maker's. The extraction of a permanent molar is, 

 under the most favorable circumstances and at the hands of an ex- 

 perienced surgeon, a most serious and formidable operation, and 

 one that should never be attempted save under exceptional and 

 pressing requirements, and then only by a qualified practitioner; 

 of course, by the majority of allopathic veterinarians, the idea of 

 relieving pain produced by a carious tooth, or of dispersing an 

 abscess situate at the end of a fang by means of internal medica- 

 tion would be ridiculed as preposterous; nevertheless our experi- 

 ence among horses and dogs warrants us in affirming very posi- 

 tively that such results are attainable, and considering the hard 

 character of the tissues of which teeth are composed, in numerical 

 proportions far exceeding what the most sanguine advocates of 

 Homoepathy could reasonably anticipate; furthermore, our experi- 

 ence on our own person, and on the persons of countless stable^ 

 men that have received most acceptable relief when suffering the 

 agonies of toothache, confirms all that has been claimed for the 

 treatment of animals under like conditions. 



LAMPAS. 



This common and well-known condition affecting the mucous 

 membrane lining the mouth generally, is often made an excuse 



