DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 17 



half a dram ; distilled water, 1 pint. As snake bites are usually 

 attended with considerable depression, which may terminate in stu- 

 por, it is advisable to give doses of whisky at intervals. Half a pint 

 of Avhisky mixed with a pint of water should be given, and the dose 

 should be repeated in half an hour if the animal is sinking into a 

 stupefied and unconscious condition. The repetition of the dose 

 must depend on the symptoms which the animal shows. It must be 

 borne in mind that the object of treatment is to ward off the stupor, 

 which is one of the results of snake bite, and that in administering 

 whisky the object is to produce a stimulating and not an intoxicating 

 or stupefying effect. The swelling from an insect bite should be 

 bathed as soon as noticed with annnonia water and then treated with 

 frequent applications of hot water. 



SALIVATION. 



Salivation is a symptom of some general or local disorder. It may 

 be a symptom of a general disease, such as rabies or the foot-and- 

 mouth disease, or it may be a purely local trouble, as when copious 

 secretion of the salivary glands is produced by the eating of irritat- 

 ing plants, such as wild mustard. In cases where saliva is observed 

 to dribble from the mouth, that part nuist be carefully examined by 

 introducing an instrument like a balling iron into the mouth, or. if 

 };uch an instrument is not at hand, by grasping the tongue and par- 

 tially withdrawing it from the mouth, and by placing a block of 

 wood between the back teeth, while all parts of the mouth are exposed 

 to a good light, so that the presence of any foreign substance may be 

 detected. The cause will sometimes be found to depend on a short 

 piece of wood becoming fixed on the palate, its two ends resting on 

 the upper molar teeth of each side; or it may depend on a needle, 

 ihorn, or splinter of wood becoming embedded in the tongue. Some- 

 times a sharp piece of tin or other metal may become partially em- 

 bedded in the inner surface of the cheek. Hay occasionally possesses 

 some quality, usually dependent upon its having heated in the mow 

 or having become moldy, which produces salivation. Second-crop 

 clover and some irritant weeds in the pasture or forage may cause 

 salivation. Cattle rubbed with mercurial ointment may in licking 

 themselves swallow enough mercury to bring about the same result. 

 (See "Mercury poisoning,'' p. 60.) Such cases, of course, arise from 

 the constitutional action of mercury, and indicate the danger of using 

 such a preparation externally on account of the common habit w^hich 

 the animals have of licking themselves. Mercury is also readily 

 absorbed through the skin, and, as cattle are vei-y susceptible to its 

 action, it is thus easy for them to be poisoned by it even without lick- 

 ing it from the surface. 

 16923°— 12 2 



