LAMPAS. 1 19 



It will also point out the bleeding place, if it should occasion- 

 ally be deemed advisable to abstract blood from the mouth ; or, 

 if the horse should be attacked with megrims on a journey, and 

 the driver, having no lancet, should be compelled to make use 

 of his knife, the incision should be made between the central and 

 second nippers on either side, about an inch within the mouth, 

 and cutting through the second bar. A stream of blood -will 

 be thus obtained, which ■will usually cease to flow when two 

 or three quarts have escaped, or may generally be arrested by 

 the application of a sponge filled with cold water. 



Should the cut be made a little too much on one side, and 

 about the middle of the second incisor tooth, the artery may 

 be wounded longitudinally, but not divided, and there may be 

 very great difficulty in stopping the blood. We recollect a horse 

 which almost bled to death from the artery being thus wounded. 

 If, however, a large and firm pledget of lint or tow be rolled 

 round a piece of twine, and that tied firmly round the front 

 teeth, the pressure on the part will effect the desired purpose ; 

 or, should this in a very few cases fail, a gag may be easily con- 

 trived to press upon the pledget, and the bleeding will inune- 

 diately cease. 



This, however, is a make-shift sort of bleeding, that may be 

 allowable on a journey, and possibly in some cases of lampas, 

 but w^hich is decidedly objectionable as the usual mode of ab- 

 stracting blood. The quantity withdravra. cannot be measured, 

 the degree of infl.ammation cannot he ascertained by the manner 

 in which it coagulates, and there may be difficulty to the 

 operator, and annoyance and pain to the horse, in stopping the 

 bleeding. 



LAMPAS. 



The bars occasionally swell, and rise to a level with, and 

 even beyond the edge of, the teeth. They are very sore, and the 

 •horse feeds badly on account of the pain he suffers from the pres- 

 sure of the food on them. This is called the Lampas. It may 

 arise from inflammation of the gums, propagated to the bars, 

 when the horse is shedding his teeth — and young horses are more 

 subject to it than others — or from some slight febrile tendency in 

 the constitution generally, as when a young horse has lately been 

 taken up from grass, and has been over-fed, or not sufficiently 

 exercised. At times, it appears in aged horses ; for the process 

 of growth in the teeth of the horse is continued during the whole 

 life of the animal. 



In the majority of cases, the swelling will soon subside without 

 medical treatment ; or a few naashes, and gentle alteratives, will 



