FISTULOUS PAROTID DUCT. 183 



require nothing after the exciting cause is removed. Should, 

 however, some astringent wash for the mouth be desired, a 

 good one is made by dissolving an ounce of alum in a quart 

 of water. 



Where sharp grinders produce the mischief, their edges 

 must be filed off with the 



Tooth-rasp. 



FISTULOUS PAROTID DUCT. 



I introduce this affection in the present place, because 

 there is reason to believe it is oftener the effect of injury 

 than the result of disease. It is a subject on which I con- 

 tributed a paper to the Veterinary Medical Society ; and I 

 shall on this occasion take that paper as my guide. ^ 



By a fistulous parotid duct is meant a sinuous opening, 

 communicating with the interior of the duct, through which 

 saliva is discharged. The situation of this injury may be 

 the angle of the bone, the inner border of the jaw, or the 

 side of the cheek. The issue of saliva at once proclaims the 

 case, which is confirmed by the situation of the lesion; and 

 frequently, by the distension of the duct, between the 

 opening and the parotid gland, in consequence of the ac- 

 cumulation of saliva. The emission of saliva is remarkable 

 during mastication; particularly when the animal takes his 

 morning^s meal. In long-standing cases, the duct undergoes 

 considerable dilatation ; so, instead of being comparable to 

 a goose quill, it becomes large enough to admit the finger. 

 Indeed, occasionally we meet with a horse having enlarge- 

 ment of the duct. My cousin, Mr. C. Percivall, V. S. 

 Royal Artillery, relates a case in the first vol. of ' The 

 Veterinarian,' in which, at one part, it was *^as large as 



» Those who may feel desirous for more detail than my present limits will 

 permit, had better peruse this paper. It is contained in • The Veterinarian' 

 for 1828. 



