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
The next indication of
advancing age is given by the gums growing more vascular, even now
looking inflamed, while a yellow deposit (the nature of which is not
well understood) may be seen upon the neck of the tooth, and the central
incisors of the upper jaw, if felt, may probably be found loose. In
another or about the sixth month, one of the central incisors is
removed. It does not fall out, as is generally stated, but while the
animal is feeding, the tooth is, as by accident, wrenched off. The gum
bleeds, and being slightly lacerated, looks sore and angry for some
time. The sharp edge of the new brown-coated permanent incisor is now
seen protruding. In a week or two the remaining milk central incisor of
the upper jaw is, by a seeming accident, forced out; and the mouth now
has an irregular appearance, the edges of the upper central incisors not
being level with the tables of the lateral milk teeth. The lower central
incisors, when the upper milk teeth are lost, generally are loose, and
their gums inflamed; but a month or sometimes six weeks may elapse
before these are gone: by that time the upper permanent teeth have grown
considerably. When the central milk incisors have disappeared, the
molars begin to change, and those of the upper jaw are the first
uncovered; not in any regular order, or the two teeth on the same day,
but generally the first molar before the second, the wolf's teeth mostly
departing at the same time. A week or two subsequent, the first two
permanent molars of the lower jaw are laid bare, so that at or about the
ninth month, the horse has all those teeth, which denote the animal to
be three years old, fairly in the mouth; that is, he has between the
second and third year cut four horse incisors and eight permanent
molars. Lest the description should not be perfectly clear, or such as
to enable the reader to readily understand which teeth by this time are
shed, a drawing of the head of an adult animal, which forms the
frontispiece of this work, was designed. It will enable the reader to
form some notion of the extent of the horse's mouth and likewise of the
positions of the teeth. Near to the teeth will be seen figures which do
not denote the periods when these organs first appear, but the time at
which they are fairly up, or to some extent exhibit wear. In that
engraving no further notice is taken of the milk teeth than is conveyed
by the small star associated with such of the figures as indicate the
places from which they have been displaced: thus the figures 1, 2, and
the last 4, having no star, indicate that those molars are developed
only as permanent teeth. The figures 3*, 3*, 3*, having stars, denote
that milk teeth originally occupied the situations where these teeth are
shown: those figures will be seen above and below the central incisors
and the first two molars of either jaw; and as but one side of the face
could be displayed, of course the number has to be doubled, the colt
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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