130 DISEASES OF THE MOUTH. 



A toxi-infectious gastro-enteritis, with foetid, blood-stained diarrhoea, 

 is grafted on the primary stomatitis. Comphcations in connection 

 with the respiratory, circulatory, and urinary apparatus appear, and 

 the patients die in a condition of absolute exhaustion. 



Naturally this termination is not inevitable ; trifling cases of poisoning, 

 and even grave forms, when properly treated, may, and should, recover. 



Diagnosis. The diagnosis is mainly based on the history, except in 

 cases of accidental and unsuspected poisoning. 



Prognosis* The prognosis is grave, for even when the disease does 

 not prove fatal the animals remain anaemic and exhausted for long 

 periods. 



Treatment should principally be directed towards combatting the 

 local complications. When poisoning is due to external applications 

 of mercury or its salts the skin should be washed with soap and water, 

 and afterwards dressed with a soluble sulphide, which renders the mer- 

 cury insoluble. The mouth should frequently be rinsed with boiled w^ater, 

 with decoctions of barley or marsh-mallow, with a 30 per cent, solution of 

 boric acid or alum, or with a 1 to 2 per cent, solution of salicylic acid. 



Fully grown cattle receive daily doses of 1 J to 2 drams of chlorate 

 of potash internally. This drug appears to owe its favourable action 

 to the fact that it is partly eliminated by the salivary glands. Lastly, 

 with the idea (which may, perhaps, be illusory) of minimising and 

 checking the bad effects of the mercury introduced into the body, certain 

 practitioners have recommended the administration of eggs, flowers of 

 sulphur (2 J to 5 drams), sulphate of iron (IJ to 2^ drams), and of iodide 

 of i3otassium (IJ to 2^ drams), drugs which are alleged to form insoluble 

 compounds with mercury. 



GLOSSITIS. 



The term "glossitis" is applied to all inflammations of the tongue, 

 whether superficial or deep seated. These inflammations may result 

 from trifling causes, in which case they are termed ** simple, acute, 

 or chronic golossites " ; or, on the other hand, 'from well-recognised 

 causes, like tuberculosis or actinomycosis, in which case they receive 

 the name of " specific glossites." Here only ordinary glossites are 

 investigated, the others being more particularly described in chapters 

 specially reserved for the description of the primary diseases of which 

 these form symptoms. ^_ 



SUPERFICIAL GLOSSITIS. 



This condition is characterised by lesions in the mucous membrane 

 or in the immediately subjacent tissues, deeper seated structures not 

 being involved. 



