348 
On the Teeth of the Ox, Sheep, and Pig, 
those who may have examined a few pigs, of their own breeding 
or otherwise, constitutes nearly all the information we have on 
the subject. To point out the numerous errors, even in the fore- 
going extract, would draw too much on the reader's patience, and 
therefore I proceed to more important matter. 
First, I may observe, that finding so little to guide my in- 
vestigations on which reliance could be placed, I resolved to 
study the teething of this animal from its birth onwards until 
the permanent set of teeth should be completed, and to mark 
the changes these organs might afterwards undergo, depending 
either on wear or increasing age. In carrying out this resolve I 
have availed myself of the opportunities afforded me of examin- 
ing these animals at the meetings of the Royal Agricultural 
Society, and of comparing the state of their dentition with their 
certified ages. Besides this I have from time to time inspected 
the herds of several of the principal exhibitors at our annual 
cattle shows, and who, as such, have kept projierly arranged 
entries of the births of their animals. In addition I have 
also collected a mass of interesting facts by repeated attend- 
ance at the slaughter-houses of the metropolis, and have pro- 
cured from this and other sources specimens of the skulls of 
pigs from birth to a very advanced age. . Upon the whole the 
conclusions arrived at with regard to the dentition of the pig, as 
an evidence of its age, have been drawn from the examination of 
upwards of 500 animals of attested ages, which will probably be 
considered as a sufficient basis on which to found opinions. 
The incisors of the pig, when perfected, differ more from each 
other in shape and size than do those of any other domesticated 
animal. Their position also in the upper and lower jaws is 
varied ; those in the upper jaw are placed vertically, while those 
in the lower have a procumbent direction. Fig. 45 represents 
the permanent incisors as removed from their sockets in a two- 
years' old pig : the teeth in the upper row belong to the corre- 
sponding jaw, as do those in the lower row. The letter M denotes 
the two middle or centrally-placed pairs, l the lateral, and c the 
corner. A simple inspection of the illustration is sufficient to 
point out the great differences in the form and dimensions of 
these teeth, rendering therefore a further description of them 
unnecessary in this place. 
Unlike both the ox and sheep, the' pig is born with a given 
number of teeth which have cut the gums. These are always eight, 
and are well developed: four in each jaw. They have very 
much the appearance of small tushes — a fact which fig. 46 
very correctly represents. These teeth, which I have named the 
f(£tal incisors and tushes, partly from the circumstance that tlie 
place of the former is subsequently occupied by the corner 
