OPERATIONS ON THE TONGUE. 359 



tongue out of the mouth, with perhaps a drawing- of the organ to 

 one side, or it may be pressed between the incisors and hanging 

 more or less outside of the buccal cavity. In opening this 

 cavity, the tongue may then be seen to be lacerated at its free 

 portion, the laceration being transversal or longitudinal, complete 

 or incomplete, and varjdng in dimensions, from a small portion of 

 the organ nipped from the main body, to nearly the entire portion 

 in front of the fraenum. If the antei'ior portion is missing, the 

 fraenum may be seen in its normal condition, or again may be exten- 

 sively torn, in which case the tongue is commonly hanging out of 

 the mouth. If the laceration is complete, the part in front of the 

 cut may have dropped outside and fallen into the bedding of the 

 animal, or of the one next to him, both stalls being more or less 

 spattered with blood from the hemorrhage which has accom- 

 panied the injury. 



In cases of burns, the tongue pi'esents all the symptoms of 

 glossitis, it is swollen, its epithelium readily peels oft', the saliva- 

 tion is abundant, and the mouth heated and sore. 



Considered from one point of view, the prognosis of lacerated 

 wounds of the tongue is not serious, there being but few forms of 

 that injury which are not more or less amenable to treatment. The 

 nature of the prognosis varies, of course, with the extent of the 

 wound, the depth of the tissue which it involves, and the amount 

 of substance already lost or requiring removal. A complete 

 section is always a serious matter, especially in herbivorous 

 animals, by which the tongue is so largely employed, and so ef- 

 ficient, as an instrument for the prehension of food, as well as for 

 aiding in its mastication, by keeping it in contact with the grind- 

 ers dui'ing the process of chewing. 



In carnivorous animals, as in dogs, we have seen the complete 

 sloughing of the free portion attended with such difficulty in eat- 

 ing, that the destruction of the patient became necessary in 

 order to avert his death by starvation. 



In almost all conditions of laceration of the free portion of the 

 tongue, there is an indication of an attempt to effect the union of 

 the divided parts, and our experience has led us to the conclusion 

 that no one is justified in refusing to treat a wound of the tongue 

 or abandoning such a case without at least an effort to save it, 

 even, as in some cases, where the divided parts are held together 

 by the smallest portion of substance. 



