Man sheds his teeth, and so do other animals, as the horse, the
mule, and the ass. And man sheds his front teeth; but there is no
instance of an animal that sheds its molars. The pig sheds none of its
teeth at all.
2
With regard to dogs some doubts are entertained, as some contend
that they shed no teeth whatever, and others that they shed the
canines, but those alone; the fact being, that they do shed their
teeth like man, but that the circumstance escapes observation, owing
to the fact that they never shed them until equivalent teeth have
grown within the gums to take the place of the shed ones. We shall
be justified in supposing that the case is similar with wild beasts in
general; for they are said to shed their canines only. Dogs can be
distinguished from one another, the young from the old, by their
teeth; for the teeth in young dogs are white and sharp-pointed; in old
dogs, black and blunt.
3
In this particular, the horse differs entirely from animals in
general: for, generally speaking, as animals grow older their teeth
get blacker, but the horse's teeth grow whiter with age.
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