89 



and I have seen this occur on several occasions, both in horse and 

 cow, when the inflammation has been so extensive, and the tongue so 

 much swollen, and so hard, that the mouth was pressed open with the 

 tongue protruding out of the front of the lips for four or five inches, 

 while saliva ran from the mouth, and the animal breathed with great 

 difficulty, being, in fact, so threatened with siiffocation that tracheotomy 

 had to be performed. These cases are, as a rule, not noticed until the 

 disease is so far advanced that there is no chance of any successful 

 treatment, for the mouth is so full with the swollen tongue that medicine 

 cannot be administered. Treatment: In such cases, the tongue has to 

 be scarified — that is, cut by plunging a lancet or a very sharp pen-knife 

 into the protruding portion, and the mouth washed with boracic 

 antiseptic lotion — (see Appendix), — the lotion being injected into the 

 mouth with an enema syringe. The tongue, in many instances, also 

 becomes hard or indurated from chronic inflammation of its substance 

 and when in this state has to be scarified with the lancet, and dressed 

 daily with tincture of iodine. 



232. The Fraenum — the guide or bridle of the tongue — is the 

 membrane by which the tongue is attached to the lower jaw, and 

 occasionally it is torn by the bit getting under the tongue, and being 

 roughly pulled at by the rider or driver. I have seen some bad cases 

 of this kind. For Treatment: Keep the bit out of the mouth until 

 the parts are healed, and wash the mouth, night and morning, with the 

 boracic acid lotion (see Appendix.) 



233. Ulcers on the tongue are sometimes met with in the horse, 

 and are generally due to injuries occasioned by the sharp edges or 

 irregular wear of the teeth. Cows and sheep suffer from this even 

 more than horses (see Digestive Organs, Part II. — Foot and Month Disease.) 

 For Treatment : Wash the mouth with the boracic acid lotion, and, if 

 the teeth are at fault, dress with the tooth rasp. (Lecture VII. — Teeth.) 



234. Dogs and Cats frequently pick up needles and pins, or sharp 

 bones, which penetrate the tongue. The animal shov^^s signs that 

 something is wrong in the mouth, by rubbing the floor with the 

 cheeks, or poking the side of the face with the fore paws, the saliva, 



