OPEN PAROTID DUCT. 499 



A powerful syringe will be necessary to force the injection into all 

 the ramifications of the gland. It arrests the discharge, by causing 

 such an amount of inflammation in the substance of the gland 

 as to destroy its secerning functions ; the tubules and ducts be- 

 come filled with adhesive lymph, causing the adhesion of their 

 sides, the destruction of gland cells, and such an alteration in its 

 whole structure, that it finally becomes converted into a solid 

 indurated mass or tumour, which is gradually removed by absorp- 

 tion. 



It must be distinctly understood that neither the insertion of 

 a seton nor the destruction of the gland are to be attempted in 

 recent cases; nor should caustics or the actual cautery be at 

 any time applied. In a recently opened duct the wound should 

 be treated by suture and collodion, and the animal forced to 

 abstain from all soM food for at least three days after the acci- 

 dent. He must have gruel, milk, &c., to drink, and be muzzled, 

 to prevent him eating his bedding. Nauseating with small 

 doses of aloes is very useful, destroying the desire for food, and 

 assisting materially in the compulsory quietude of the jaws. 

 When the saliva is partly discharged into the mouth, and partly 

 through a small ulcer out of the duct, a smart blister will 

 generally bring about the closure of the opening. The removal 

 of the gland by excision, as recommended by the continental 

 veterinarians, is never required. 



SALIVARY CALCULI. 



These concretions form chiefly in the parotid, sublingual, and 

 submaxillary ducts. They are caused by an accidental nucleus, 

 such as a small piece of hay or corn penetrating the canal — to 

 which the salts of the saliva adhere, forming roundish or mul- 

 berry concretions blocking up the duct, wliich becomes enlarged 

 and distended with saliva. The treatment is — removal, by mani- 

 pulation into the mouth, if possible, or through an opening made 

 by th^ knife, and treating the wound so made upon the plan re- 

 commended for recently opened duct. 



Sometimes an oat insinuates itself into the orifice of the parotid 

 duct, producing distension of it by saliva, causing it to appear as 

 a pendulous sac on the borders of the jaw. The foreign body 

 must be removed through the mouth. 



