368 THE PllACnCE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



occurrence has also been observed in the horse and other 

 animals. 



Sijmptoms. — Usually the first symptom to attract atten- 

 tion is the animal feeding badly ; the irritation of the 

 tongue frequently cause the patient, after a fruitless 

 attempt at mastication, to eject the food from the mouth, 

 and also gives rise to a profuse flow of saliva. A peculiarly 

 disagreeable odour of the breath may often be detected. 

 These symptoms having led to an examination of the 

 mouth, the tongue will be found more or less enlarged, 

 indurated, and tender to the touch. The swelling of the 

 tongue ma}^ exist in circumscribed patches, or generally; and 

 the presence of nodules, of a yellowish colour, and varying 

 in size from slightly larger than a pea to very nearly the 

 size of a pigeon's egg, may be detected. Ulcers, circum- 

 scribed in extent and of merely superficial depth, are also 

 to be seen at a certain stage of the disease. As the disease 

 progresses, prehension and mastication become more and 

 more difficult, and finally impossible. All the other 

 symptoms mentioned become better marked, and unless 

 relief be speedily afforded the patient succumbs — dying 

 literally of starvation. In a majority of cases the tongue 

 alone is affected; but in other cases, and in cases where the 

 disease is allowed to proceed, the bones of the jaws become 

 affected and enlarge, the teeth become loosened and fall 

 out, when great emaciation takes place and death results. 

 The condition has been sometimes mistaken for epulis, or 

 an affection of a tuberculous character; but in cases 

 where any doubt exists as to the nature of the malady, it 

 can at once be dispelled by subjecting a portion of one of 

 the nodules to a microscopic examination, when in actino- 

 mykosis the characteristic fungus of the disease may be 

 found. 



Treatment. — As the disease is a purely local one, none 



