290 inflammation in the tissues op 



Stomatitis, 



Mucous membranes are more prone to inflam- 

 matory attacks tlian serous or fibrous membranes, 

 and hence we find such attacks not unfrequently 

 in the lining membrane of the mouth. 



Stomatitis, or inflammation of the mucous 

 membrane of the mouth, may be either simple or 

 ulcerative, and in either case it may be confined 

 to a small surface, or spread over the entire region. 

 Ulcerative stomatitis must be preceded by the 

 simple form, and therefore in describing its 

 symptoms I shall describe first, those of simple 

 stomatitis. 



Symptoms, — They are increased redness, with a 

 sense of heat, and more or less swelling and pain 

 in the gum where the inflammation exists, with at 

 first a diminished, and afterwards an increased 

 secretion of saliva. 



Causes, — Sometimes stomatitis is excited by 

 constitutional, and at other times by local causes. 

 Among the local causes may be mentioned — want 

 of cleanliness, injuries, the application of irritating 

 agents, diseased teeth and roots, &c. Among the 

 constitutional causes, depressed or exalted vital 

 powers, by whatever cause produced, such as im- 

 proper food, ill-ventilated dwellings, the eruptive 

 and intermittent, or, as the London poor not 

 inaptly call it, intermediate fever, secondary syphi- 

 lis, mercury, &c. Excepting from the two last- 



