132 DISEASE:? JF THE TONGUE THE SALIVARY GLANDS. 



DISEASES OF THE TONGUE. 



The tongue is frequently lacerated by carelessness in adminis- 

 tering medicine, by the bit, and sometimes by being bitten by the 

 animal itself. A little diluted tincture of myrrh, or alum dis- 

 solved in water, or, if the wound is not serious, unassisted nature, 

 will heal the parts. 



Purple-colored vesicles or bladders will sometimes appear along 

 the under side of the tongue, and increase to considerable size ; 

 ihe tongue will be enlarged so that it becomes difficult to swallow ; 

 and a great quantity of ropy saliva will drivel from the mouth. 

 Lance the vesicles freely and deeply from end to end and they 

 will soon disappear, and any little fever that remains may be 

 subdued by cooling medicine. 



THE SALIVARY GLANDS. 



In order that the food may be properly comminuted preparatory 

 to digestion, it is necessary that it should be previously moistened. 

 Nature has made a provision for this. She has placed in the 

 neighborhood of the mouth various glands to secrete, and that 

 plentifully, a limpid fluid, somewhat saline 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 Fig. 12). The 

 quantity of" fl uid poured into the mouth, in the act of mastication, 

 from each jf these glands, amounts to a pint in half an hour. 



The paiotid gland sympatliizes with every inflammatory afTec- 

 tion of the upper part of the throat, and therefore it is found 

 swollen, hot, and tender, in almost every catarrh or cold. The 

 catarrh is to be treated in the usual way ; while 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 be much enlarged and ulcerated, or an obstruction will take 

 place in some part of the duct, and the accumulating fluid will 

 burst the vessel, and a fistulous ulcer will be formed that will be 

 very difficult to heal. A veterinary surgeon alone will be com- 

 petent 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, and, probably, by the application of the 

 heated iron : or, if the ulcer is in the duct, either to restore the 

 passage through the duct, or to form a new one, or to eut off the 

 flow of the saliva by the destruction o^ the gland. 



