THE LIPS. 139 



absorbent vessels, and a tonic. The gentian root is usually combined with it. Can- 

 tharides, in small quantities, may be advantageously added. An indication of its 

 influence is a soreness of the diseased parts arising from the absorbent vessels being 

 roused into increased action: the agent should then be for a time withheld.* 



Water-Farcv, confounded by name with the common farcy, and l)y which much 

 confusion has been caused, and a great deal of mischief done, is a dropsical affection 

 of the skin, either of the chest or of the limbs, and belongs to another part of our 

 subject. 



THE LIPS. 



The lips of the horse are far more important organs than many suppose. They are 

 the hands of the animal; and if any one will take the trouble to observe the manner 

 in which he gathers up his corn witli them, and collects together the grass before he 

 divides it with his nippers, he would be satisfied that the horse would be no more 

 able to convey the food to his mouth without them, than the human being could with- 

 out his hands. This has even been put to the test of experiment. The nerves which 

 supply the lips were divided in a poor ass, to illustrate some point of physiology. 

 The sensibility of the li])S was lost, and he knew not when he touched his food with 

 them. The motion of the lips was lost, and he could not get the oats between his 

 teeth, although the manger was full of them : at length, driven by hunger, he contrived 

 to lick up a few of them with his tongue; but when they were on his tongue, the 

 greater part of them were rubbed off before he could gi^ them into his mouth. 



It is on account of this use of the lips, and that they may be brought into contact 

 with the food without inconvenience or injury to other parts of the foce, that the 

 heads of most quadrupeds are so '"ngthened. Several muscles go to the lips from 

 different parts of the jaw and face. Some of them are shown in the cut, p. 125. 

 The orbicularis or circular muscle, p, employed in pushing out the lips and closing 

 them, and enabling the horse to seize and hold his food, is particularly evident; and 

 in the explanation of the cut, the action of other muscles, ?, ^, in, and o, was de- 

 scribed. The nerves likewise, y, taking their course along the cheek, and principally 

 supplying the lips with the power of motion, and those, r, proceeding from the fora- 

 men or hole in the upper jaw, deserve attention. 



The lips are composed of a muscular substance for the sake of strength, and a 



* A very interesting case of the cure of farcy in the human being occurred in January, 1S40, 

 in the practice of Mr. Curtis, a respectable surgeon of Camden Town : — 



" Mr. G., a student at the Veterinary College, had. about three weeks before, received a 

 slight wound on the forefinger of the right hand, while dissecting a glandered horse. The 

 wound healed ; but, about nine days afterwards, a small abscess formed in the part, which he 

 would not consent to have opened; the pus was therefore alisorbed, and the finger got well, 

 and neither the lymphatics nor the glands appeared to be affected. 



"Ten days afterwards, he was attacked with giddiness while attending the lecture, and 

 obliged to leave the room. He immediately applied to Mr. Curtis. He had three blotches of 

 inflammation of the skin of the right leg, varying in extent from two to four inches in diameter. 

 The leg was very painful when he walked; and he had also some small blotches on the left 

 leg. He had headache and thirst. His case was sufficiently plain — farcy was beginning to 

 develop itself Aperient medicine was administered. 



•' On the following day, there were numerous small blotches over both legs and thighs. In 

 many of them the centre was of a pale green colour, having a somewhat gangrenous appear- 

 ance. The headache was worse ; there was a sensation of weight over the eyes, and tender- 

 ness over the left frontal. 



" Mr. Curtis determined to put him under a course of iodine, of the tincture of which eight 

 minims were ordered every fourth hour, the bowels being kept in a relaxed state. 



" On the fourth day, the centre of the blotches, which were still green, appeared to form 

 cavities, containing a fluid, from about the size of a shilling to that of a half-crown. The 

 blotches were surrounded by hard, defined edges, covered with cuticle, but the thickening of 

 which was gradually disappearing. 



" Two days after this, the fluid in the cavities was absorbed, but round their edges were 

 lumps, or tubercles, about the size of peas. Several weeks passed before the tubercles quite 

 disappeared. 



" Mr. Curtis remarks, that so far as a single case wU go, the intractable nature of this dis 

 ease seems to arise rather from neglect in its early stage, than from any impossibility of sub- 

 duing it." — The Veterinarian, vol. xiii. p. 353. 



