DENTAL INDICATIONS OF AGE OF A HORSE 20I 



tumours disappear, and for the most part the animal 

 has a dull and heavy appearance, with hanging of 

 the head. 



Various are the tricks resorted to by dealers to 

 impose upon the uninitiated. They endeavour by 

 fraudulent means to make them appear most near 

 the age at which they are of the greatest value, and 

 when they can of course obtain the highest price 

 for them. If too young, they endeavour to make 

 them seem older, and on the contrary, if too old, 

 they try to give them a youthful appearance. Besides 

 what we have mentioned at page 191, there is a 

 practice amongst dishonest dealers to prolong the 

 youthful marks of the teeth of a horse by what has 

 been designated Bishoping, after the infamous in- 

 ventor of this fraud. This trick is to imitate the 

 appearance of the m^ark. A horse of eight or nine 

 years of age is taken, and, by the aid of an engraving 

 tool, a hole is dug in the surface of the corner teeth 

 to imitate that in a horse of seven years of age. The 

 hole is then burned with heated iron, until it leaves 

 a permanent black stain. This is sometimes ex- 

 tended to the dividers, in a slight degree. But upon 

 a narrow inspection this trick will be detected. The 

 irregular appearance of the cavity, the absence of 

 the ring of enamel around the infundibulum, the dif- 

 fusion ot the black stain around the tushes, the 

 sharpened edges and concave inner surface can never 

 be successfully imitated so as to deceive the experi- 

 enced. Besides, if the incisors of the upper jaw be 

 examined, they will aid the most ignorant in detect- 

 ing the imposition. 



