602 DISEASES OF THE THROAT. 



tenacious tlian natural, mingled with pus-cells, and disposed to 

 adhere to the inflamed membrane. There are seldom any 

 textural changes, although when these do occur they are often 

 troublesome, as phar3rngeal abscesses of different kinds. 



b. Causation. — Although the larger number of instances of 

 inflammation of the fauces and pharynx appear as part of the 

 symptoms of the more general diseased condition known as 

 catarrh, there are yet many where the state of pharyngeal 

 catarrh arises independent of association with the more dis- 

 tinctly general disturbance. In these latter, although it is 

 evident that systemic weakness and atony predispose to the 

 occurrence of this local disturbance, yet it almost invariably 

 claims another parentage, such as exposure to depressing at- 

 mospheric influences; cold, with damp, following previous 

 fatigue and general exhaustion, being fruitful sources of the 

 condition. 



Direct irritation, resulting from the contact or lodgment of 

 acrid materials or foreign bodies, will more rarely produce this 

 state of local inflammation ; while it seems not unlikely that 

 some of the milder instances, in young animals in particular, 

 are connected with dental disturbance and irregularities of the 

 digestive organs. Repeated attacks seem in time to confer a 

 susceptibility under ordinary determining influences to the re- 

 currence of this form of sore throat. 



Symptoms. — The indications of the existence of this affec- 

 tion are in the pronounced cases unequivocal. Difficulty in 

 swallowing may be looked upon as the most constantly 

 present and diagnostic. In bad cases solid food is with diffi- 

 culty passed along the fauces without inducing coughing, 

 during which act it is often thrown again into the mouth, 

 while liquids, after having passed the velum, are discharged 

 by the nostrils, sometimes coloured with the food materials. 

 Cough is not a constant feature, unless the laryngeal structures 

 are involved. The inclination to eat is evident, while the con- 

 stant inability to swallow, and the presence in the mouth and 

 triclding from it of ropy saliva, show the irritabihty and 

 swelling which exist in the posterior parts. 



This condition is distinguished from inflammation of the 

 laryngeal structures by absence of fever and non-existence of 

 distinct impairment in respiration. In many, however, it 



