The horse's mouth, showing the age by the teethMayhew, Edward
Science
The horse's mouth, showing the age by the teeth
Mayhew, Edward
Horses -- Age
bones we see cartilage and osseous structure connected, without any such
interposition; and no one expects such a matrix for the vitreous table
of the cranial parietes. The crusta petrosa may have its uses apart from
any conjectural function of secretion; and, in further proof that it
does not secrete, it can, in the young subject, before the tooth has
emerged from its primary cavity, be separated with the greatest facility
from the enamel. It serves to protect the enamel, but it likewise
answers the end of keeping the tooth firm in the jaw: around the neck of
the molars it becomes thickened to a great extent; and at the roots,
especially of old teeth, it exhibits considerable substance. The horse's
molars are continually being wrenched from side to side while the food
is being ground, and unless they were very firmly mortised, the vessels
which nurture them would be continually lacerated: this the crusta
petrosa, by entirely filling the alveolar cavity, prevents; and as the
molars wear down with age, the thickening of the membrane enables the
jaw to retain with security the latest portion of the tooth. I have
specimens taken from very aged subjects, where the fang having been worn
away, the molar consists merely of the roots of teeth embedded in a mass
of crusta petrosa.
16. _The various parts and peculiarities of form_, now require
consideration. If the table of an incisor tooth be observed, a cavity
will be seen in the centre of it: this cavity, called the infundibulum,
is of variable depth. In the temporary or milk teeth, it extends only
half way down the crown; in the permanent or horse incisors, it is from
three quarters of an inch to an inch and a quarter deep, being of
greater depth in the teeth of the upper than in those of the lower jaw,
and not of the same magnitude in all horses. The infundibula are
indentations in the body of the ivory, and they possess two coverings,
an external one of crusta petrosa, and internal investment of enamel:
the enamel does not materially vary in thickness upon this part, but the
crusta petrosa of the infundibula is, in different subjects, of very
unequal extent. In some animals it becomes very thick, and in such, the
infundibula seem soon to be obliterated, owing to the crusta petrosa
filling up the cavity. A good specimen of the early obliteration of the
cavity, by the thickness of its investing membrane, is shown by the
teeth preserved with the jaw of the horse Leander, which is now in the
possession of Mr. W. Field. That animal, though but four years old, had
lost the "marks" in the central incisors. A white line, however, shows
that the enamel dips deep into the substance of the ivory, and indicates
what would have been the form of the infundibula, had not the crusta
petrosa filled up the cavities. The infundibula have received special
attention from horsemen, and have been thought to indicate correctly the
age of the horse; their lining membrane speedily becomes blackened by
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