16 DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS 



After administration of violent poisons the mucous membranes of 

 the cheeks and inferior surface of the tongue are found to be gray in 

 color, hanging in shreds, and intensely inflamed, and later abscesses form 

 on the sloughed parts. This is observed in infectious hemorrhagic gastro- 

 enteritis, stomatitis, and distemper, as a result of decayed teeth and 

 formation of abscesses on the mucous membrane of the cheeks. Ranula 

 appears on the floor of the mouth-cavity on one side of the tongue; it is 

 long and oval, sometimes the shape of a goose egg; the sac is a fluctuating 

 swelling with a thin wall. Small whitish enlargements resembling warts 

 frequently appear on the mucous membrane of young dogs. They are, 

 however, of little or no importance. The salivary glands are frequently 

 swollen and abscesses form in their structure. As a result of these irrita- 

 tions we may have colloid infiltration of the glands, and after 

 inflammation, they become indurated, the secretion of saliva is some- 

 times greatly increased and runs out of the mouth in long, thready 

 strings; this is also seen in all inflammatory conditions of the mouth or 

 where there is an abscess located in the mouth or throat during teething; 

 in cases of mercurial poisoning, and from some caustic poisons, and 

 after the hypodermic injection of pilocarpine. From inflammation of the 

 pharynx, rabies, and by certain parasites burrowing through the tissues 

 of the body. 



The secretion of saliva is lessened during all fevers, and from the 

 effects of some poisons, fevers, diarrhoea, and after the injections of 

 atropia. 



The saliva is bloody after injuries of the mouth. It may be slightly 

 stained with blood from stomatitis, scurvy, infectious hemorrhagic gastro- 

 enteritis, and gangrene of the tongue. The soft palate and pharynx are 

 sometimes the seat of acute or chronic inflammations, and sometimes we 

 find abscesses of these parts from the presence of foreign bodies (needles, 

 splinters of bone or wood) . It is well to feel these parts when making an 

 examination. The tonsils are affected, as a rule, in all cases of pharyn- 

 gitis. It generally protrudes from the side of the base of the tongue in a 

 dark-red, sausage-like formation. The subparotid lymphatics are invari- 

 ably found to be swollen, in all cases of inflammation of the pharynx. 



Examination of the (Esophagus. 



The oesophagus protrudes from the pharynx on a level with the 

 first cervical vertebra. The anterior part of it lies between the wind- 

 pipe and the longus colli in the median line of the neck. It extends from 

 there to the left side of the windpipe and passes to the right side of the 

 aortic arch between both membranes of the mediastinum, in the shape 

 of a flat arch, and perforates the diaphragm at the twelfth dorsal vertebra 



