GIGS, BLADDERS, FLAPS. 81 



The proper way to treat those swellings is to com- 

 bat the inflammation which produced them, giving 

 some sedative medicine, and paying extra attention to 

 the food : as soon as the inflammation begins to abate, 

 the barbs or paps will diminish, and all will be well. 

 No ointment or lotion should be applied to them ; for 

 the cause ceasing, the effect will presently disappear. 

 The farrier who proposes to cut or to burn them off 

 shows the most disgraceful ignorance. He will not 

 only put a noble animal to much unnecessary torture, 

 but the new inflammation which he will produce in 

 the part may close up the orifices of the ducts. The 

 secretion of the saliva, nevertheless, would go on : and 

 if it cannot be discharged into the mouth, it must 

 accumulate somewhere; and in consequence of the 

 accumulation causing pressure, the duct will ulcerate : 

 and under the jaw will be formed a fistulous wound 

 which the best practitioner may be unable to heal. 



GIGS, BLADDERS, FLAPS. 



These are names for enlargements of the openings 

 of numerous little glands under the tongue and within 

 the cheek, whose function is to pour forth a secretion 

 which mingles with the saliva. They too, sometimes, 

 being affected by adjacent inflammation, become 

 enlarged, and look like little pimples scattered about 

 the mouth. In most cases nothing should be done to 

 them ; or if any thing, the Infusion of Catechu 

 (Recipe, No. 11, p. 55), or the Alum Wash (Recipe, 

 No. 1*2, p. 55), may diminish the swelling, and heal 

 any ulcers which may exist. 



E 5 



