THE HORSE. 



THE SALIVARY GLANDS. 



In order that the food may be properly ground down to prepare it for 

 di"estion, it is necessary that it should be previously moistened. The food 

 of the stabled horse, however, is dry, and his meal is generally concluded 

 without any fluid being offered to him. Nature has made a provision foi 

 this. It iias placed in the neighbourhood of the mouth, various glands, 

 to secrete, and that plentifully, a limpid fluid, somewhat salt to the taste : 

 this fluid is conveyed from the glands into the mouth, by various ducts in 

 the act of chewing, and being mixed with the food, renders it more easily 

 ground, more easily passed afterwards into the stomach, and better fitted 

 for digestion. 



The principal of these is the parotid gland (see cut, p. 119). It is 

 placed in the hollow which extends from the root of the ear to the angle 

 of the lower jaw. A portion of it, q., is represented as turned up, to shdw 

 the situation of the blood-vessels underneath. In almost every case of 

 cold, connected with sore throat, the parotid gland is enlarged, and is 

 immediately evident to the feeling and even to the eye. It is composed 

 of a great number of small glands connected together, and a little tube 

 proceeding from each, to carry oflf the secreted fluid. These tubes unite 

 in one common duct. At the letter u, the parotid duct is seen to pass 

 under the angle of the lower jaw, together with the submaxillary artery, 

 and a branch of the jugular vein, and they come out again at w. At r, 

 the duct is seen separated from the other vessels, climbing up the cheek, 

 and piercing it to discharge its contents into the mouth opposite to the 

 . second grinder. The quantity of fluid thus poured into the mouth, from 

 each of the parotid glands, amounts to a pint and a half in an hour, during 

 the action of chewing ; and sometimes, when the duct has been accidentally 

 opened, it has spirted out to the distance of several feet. 



The parotid gland sympathizes with every inflammatory affection of the 

 upper part of the throat, and therefore it is found swelled, hot, and tender, 

 in almost every catarrh or cold. The cold is to be attacked by the usual 

 means ; and a stimulating application, almost amounting to a blister, well 

 rubbed over the gland, will best subdue the inflammation of that body. 



In bad strangles, and sometimes in violent cold, this gland will swell 

 to a great size and ulcerate, or an obstruction will arise in some part of the 

 duct, and the accumulating fluid will burst the vessel, and a fistulous ulcer 

 will be formed, very difficult to heal. A veterinary surgeon alone will be 

 competent to the treatment of either case ; and the principle by which he 

 will be guided, will be to heal the abscess in the gland as speedily as he 

 can; or, if the ulcer be in the duct, either to restore the passage through 

 the duct, or to form a new one, or to cut oflT the flow of the saliva by the 

 destruction of the gland. 



The second source of the saliva is from the submaxillary glands, or the 

 glands under the jaw. One of them is represented at s, p. 119. The sub- 

 maxillary glands occupy the space underneath, and between the sides of 

 the lower jaw, and consist of numerous small glands, each with its proper 

 duct, which unite together, and form on each side a common duct or vessel, 

 that pierces through the muscles at the root of the tongue, and opens in 

 little projections or heads, upon the frcenum or bridle of the tongue, 

 about an inch and a half from the front teeth. When the horse has catarrh 

 or cold, these glands, like the parotid gland, enlarge. This often takes 

 place after strangles, and several distinct kernels are to be felt under the 

 jaw. We have already stated, that they may be distinguished from those 



