very enthusiastic in the use of the gum lancet, which they have in a great measure cast aside, and which is beneficial only in scientific hands. The loss of blood likewise is to be considered, and that certainly aids in retarding the growth, which the adoption of the other means, general with the breeders of horses, could not accelerate. The employment of the cautery, to expedite the appearance of the teeth, is so strange a resort, that I can only account for the use of that agent by imagining certain persons to be totally ignorant of its action. In the first place, it destroys the part with which it comes in contact; inflammation follows and suppuration ensues; a quantity of blood is diverted to the surface, and of course drawn from the pulp of the new tooth, which originally it flowed to and nurtured. A slough must take place, and the mouth remain sore till the escar is thrown off and the exposed granulating surface cicatrized. But wherever the hot iron is applied the immediate part is thickened, rendered more hard and tense. Which of these effects is it the horse-dealer regards as likely to promote his wishes? A little knowledge would inform any one, that the cautery must act in the opposite direction to that, which it is supposed, by ignorant people, to favour. Indeed, I do not think, that horse-dealers or others have yet obtained so great a mastery over nature, that the dame can be made to hurry at their bidding, however cruelly their orders may be enforced. A "Yorkshire five" may sound well, but there is no more possibility of making a four-year old colt, by barbarity, show the development of a five-year old horse, than there is, by wrenching, cutting, and burning, of making a boy of fifteen look like a man of twenty. Nature obeys her own laws, and is not yet subjected to human practices. Careful rearing, nutritious food, sufficient exercise, and no work does promote development, and of the growth thereby engendered, the purchaser has no reason to be in fear; for if one part shows maturity, he may be assured, that the other parts are also equally matured. The time the animal has lived is not of half the consequence, that the use which has been made of its life is, to the future possessor. The horse that has a mouth indicating five, and that can be proved to be five, if it has been worked from its earliest year and stinted in its food, has less energy and life than a younger creature forwarded by the fostering care of the breeder. The two animals are not to be compared. Supposing the one to be no more than four, it possesses the vigour and development of five; while the other, which is five, may have the decrepitude and constitutional infirmity of twenty. Let not the buyer fear the deceit of the breeder, but without dread accept the mouth as proof of the age; if the animal is not in years, he is in development, that which the teeth declare. To this conclusion, however, some will oppose their opinions. The animal, they will argue,