and another and comparatively large set to suit 
‘their matured state. The interiors, the sockets, 
and the muscular adjuncts of the teeth are per- 
vaded by ramifications of blood-vessels, nerves, 
and absorbents,—the first to form and maintain 
the secretions, the second to maintain sensation 
and vital energy, and the third to withdraw ex- 
hausted or useless matter from about the roots 
and the interior. 
Caries or rotting of the substance of the teeth 
occurs more or less in all animals, but is peculi- 
arly frequent and virulent in man, and very spe- 
cially so in those members of the human family 
who think themselves most highly civilized. One 
cause of this disease in man is the want of a due 
degree of dental action, occasioned by the luxu- 
riousness or soft forms of food; another is the 
rapid and mighty whirl of chemical forces acting 
on the teeth from the great diversity and rapid 
succession and piquant nature of the articles of 
diet; and a third and chief is the adherence to 
their teeth or their interstices of small particles 
of easily decomposable substances, such as flesh 
meat or animal sauces, or almost any of the mix- 
tures of the most relished dishes. Decomposition 
of the particles is rapidly effected under the 
' combined action of the heat and moisture of the 
mouth and the oxygen of the atmosphere; and 
| an acid results which immediately attacks the 
phosphate of lime in the teeth, and after a series 
of times, so far accomplishes its decomposition as 
to set the teeth perceptibly a-decaying. A little 
hole is now made which henceforth constantly 
lets in the atmospheric air, the salivary secre- 
tions, and the decomposing particles of adhering 
food; and unless this hole is promptly stopped 
with some composition similar to what is used 
| by dentists, a rapid decay of the entire tooth, on 
| to its destruction, is inevitable. 
One of the greatest enemies to human teeth 
is the concretion denominated tartar, which forms 
upon them like a crust, and would encase them 
wholly were there no impediment. Of the nature 
of this tartar and how it is formed a great deal 
has been written; but the whole that has been 
advanced and urged, sometimes very authorita- 
tively and with great dogmatism, only goes to 
prove that the writers knew nothing of the mat- 
ter. Of late, since the wonders of the world of 
animalcules, like a new creation, have occupied 
the attention of the learned,—since it has been 
| shown that myriads of living creatures exist in 
a single drop of water,—since it has been con- 
jectured by some hyper-hypothesists that the 
whole creation is made up of animalcules,—since 
mineralogy and general physics have entered the 
| nursery, and Greek and Latin form a necessary 
| part of a young lady’s education, it has been the 
fashion to consider the tartar that is formed upon 
the teeth, as the work of animalcules,—as in 
fact nothing more than a mass of cells built by 
minute and invisible polypi, a sort of miniature 
coral reef, or wall of madrepore rock, like those 
raised by polypi in mid-ocean, and which serve 
as the foundation stones of islands, If this be 
true, whence come these diminutive creatures ? 
—where and how are they bred, and what is their 
pedigree? All however that we really know on this 
head is, that the substance termed tartar does 
actually exist on the teeth, to which, if not re- 
moved, it is very injurious ; and that the rapidity 
of its formation frequently depends upon the 
state of the stomach. In some idiosyncrasies, it 
is not formed at all; in others, only a little; in 
others, a great deal. Whenever it does appear, 
it should be removed ; yet, even where there is 
an idiosyncratic tendency to its accumulation, it 
will not have time to form if the teeth were pro- 
perly attended to,—a thing requiring more of 
the minuteness of attention than of actual 
trouble. If tartar be allowed to accumulate, 
which it almost always does in the permanent 
absence of tooth-brushes and tooth-powder, it 
not only gradually loosens and destroys the teeth, 
but corrodes the gums, and reduces them to a 
state of disease frequently mistaken for scurvy, 
even by medical men; and at length it occasions 
the total destruction of the teeth, and asad un- 
sightliness of the gums, with no other remedy 
left but to encase the latter in an artificial socket 
bearing a set of artificial teeth. 
The diseases of the horse’s teeth, as well as the 
proper treatment of them, differ considerably 
from those of man. Feverishness, loss of appe- 
tite, diarrhoea, and a number of other and widely 
dissimilar affections, either arising wholly from 
difficulty of dentition, or more or less severely 
aggravated by it, are so frequent in young horses, | 
that, whenever any of them occurs, and is found 
on examination of the mouth to be accompanied 
with prominence and pushing of the tushes, a 
crucial incision ought to be made upon the gums. 
“In this way,” says Mr. Percivall, “I have seen 
catarrhal and bronchial inflammations abated, 
coughs relieved, lymphatic and other glandular 
tumours about the head reduced, cutaneous 
eruptions got rid of, deranged bowels restored to 
order, appetite returned, and lost condition re- | 
paired.”’—The grinders of more advanced horses 
are apt to become roughened in the edges from 
irregular growth or from irregular wearing of the 
enamel, and may in this state give rise to bad 
ulcers in the mouth, and ought to be rasped 
smooth.—Part or whole of a back tooth or other 
grinder sometimes grows to a higher level than 
the rest of the teeth, and penetrates the bars 
above it, and causes serious ulceration, or inter- 
feres so constantly and ruinously with mastica- 
tion as to occasion a general pining for want of 
due food; and whenever any such over-growth 
is detected, it ought to be reduced to the level 
of the other teeth by means of a saw.—A general 
irregularity in the surface of the grinders, though 
not marked by any very observable prominence 
in any one part, is sometimes so great as to occa- 
sion what is called quidding, and to constitute 
J ————" 
