The Newtown bee., 1894-05-04
The Horse.
HORSES TEETH.

The greater portion of mankind retain very distinct impression of the anguish which has been produced by a diseased tooth. Thousands of these same people would smile internationally should you vOuchsafe to inform them that their horses were suffering, from the sane cause, far greater pain than it is in the capacity ot the owners to imagine. For centuries the horse has been our con- stant companion, and has been one of the principal factors in the production of our vast agricultural wealth and prosperity. Yet at this, the eleventh hour, his disorders and suffer ingS are as yet hardly recognized and understood correctly.
 The laws of nature are not dependent upon mans pleasure, but are as immu- ble as the laws of the heavens. The evils of domestication always have been and always will remain on an equality with the evils produced by civilization. Three weeks ago, in Pueblo, Col, a child died of scarlet fever. dog and cat, having been playing with the cast | off clothes in an out-house, were taken with the same disease and died. What 1 is true in our nature and physical econo-
 my is analogous in all animal nature. l This has been known a great many years.
 ] Without the shadow of a doubt, the l horse is as subject to the toothache as is
 the human. Those who are in the least l skeptical on this subject we refer to the | bone-pile of fertilZing company, and
 we assure them they will be astonished at the number of horses diseased teeth l they will find. Diseased teeth have ever been found in the fossil remains of l horses.
 tt1> .l, Tt T 1 purpose horses are much more liable to
 disol dered and diseased teeth than the
 thoroughbred, the track, and the "band-
 box horses, for the simple reason that 1 the latter have better care. Some
 horses are predisposed to bad teeth be-
 cause of the unaitered law of heredity. The teeth are not much worn by the
 eating of soft food, but when provender l is procured by grazing, especially in l pastures that are sandy and have been
 overfown, the friction and consequent
 wear are of no little importance. 1t is
 said of the horses and mules of the
 Lower Mississippi Valley that very ire quently their teeth belle their age sever
 al years. The male horse has forty
 teeth. The muscles of his jaws are most powerful. All bran, oats and l shelled corn should be carefully sifted preparatory to the, horse being fed.
 Should the teeth, during their power I full grinding, by accident come in con
 tact with piece of flint, glass or iron, I we can imagine, in measure at least, l the immediate effect. This accident has l been the cause of many a rotten tooth. Decomposition then takes place. Putre- l faction of saliva adds to the rapid decay The tooth becomes very soft-soft
 enough to be cut. A swelling is seen
 on the side of the jaw, the opposite
 grinder growing in consequence of lack of attrition, or lack of resistance in egrinding. q have somewhere read of a specimen of morbid anatomy-the head of muIe-which contained a molar l thaC pierced four inches above the lower l face of the upper grinders and extended l into the maxillary sinus. The animal, being owned by an ignorant, careless man, was turned out for all summer to sspick up." That mule starved to
 death
 The healthy tooth at last begins
 crushing the tissue of the unprotected
 gum. Pus accumulates in the cavity land produces intolerable suffering. The
 swelling on the jaw subsidies. The horse I is ssoff his feed. Then follows the ad-
 ministration of several mysterious con. ditiOn powders, trenches, and pills. lie slowly grows no better. He perhaps en- I deayors to masticate on the we'll side tdischarge from the nostrils ensues. The
 defiex is constant, and the breath be-
 come fetid to such degree that the
 stench is unbearable. The neighboring empirical sshoss doctor who knows