INFLAMMATION OF THE PAROTID GLANDS 259 



Indigestion must be met by a dose of physic and careful dieting, and in 

 any case the mouth should be irrigated twice or thrice a day with a 

 weak solution of chlorate of potash or alum. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE PAROTID GLANDS (Parotitis) 



In its local manifestations this disease resembles the human ailment 

 usually described as " mumps ", but the two affections are quite distinct 

 from each other. Mumps is a specific contagious fever communicable from 

 person to person. There is no distinct disease of the salivary glands in 



Fig. 92.— Head of Horse, showing Positions of the Parotid 

 Gland and Duct 



A, Temporalis muscle. B, Levator palpebral, c. Orbicularis palpebrarum. D, Supernaso-labialis or Levator 

 labii sup. alreque nasi. K, Supermaxilo labialis or Levator labii superioris proprius. K, Supermaxilo nasalis or 

 Dilator naris lateralis. G, Orbicularis oris. H, Mento-labialis. I, Maxilo-labialis or Depressor labii inferioris. 

 J, Zygomaticus. K, Buccinator. L, Parotid duct. M, Masseter muscle. N, Parotid gland. O, Jugular vein. 

 I\ Mastoido-humeralis muscle. 



the horse possessing infectious properties, although they not infrequently 

 become inflamed in the course of infectious diseases of another sort. 



Causes. — Inflammation of the parotid gland (fig. 93, p. 260), as it 

 occurs in the horse, is mostly a symptomatic affection arising in the course 

 of an attack of strangles or influenza. In some exceptional cases it results 

 from cold, and we have known it to be induced by the entrance of foreign 

 matter into the excretory duct which conveys saliva into the mouth. 



Symptoms. — Parotitis may be acute, when the inflammatory action 

 is severe and sometimes results in the formation of an abscess in the 

 substance of the gland, or it may pursue a chronic and abiding course 

 ending in permanent enlargement and induration of the organ affected. 

 Indications of the disease in the former case are marked by an enlarge- 



