3^(5 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



animal is feeding. The presence of food in the mouth and the motion 

 of the jaw stimuhitc the action of the gland, and since the saliva thus 

 eecreted cannot escape by its natural opening, there is constantly more 

 and more pressure until some outlet is found. This, as we have said, 

 may be by bursting, or it may be by external accident. A wound inflicted 

 on the jaw with any pointed instrument, as a hay-fork, has been known 

 to penetrate this channel. The saliva thereupon pours through the open- 

 ino-, and by its constant flow it prevents the healing of the wound, so 

 that its edges speedily become hard and without that liveliness essential 

 to the closing of punctured or gashed flesh. 



The stopping of this passage into the mouth is said to have been some- 

 times caused by calculus or stone in the cheeks of the animal. These, of 

 a size exceedingly large in proportion to the size of the duct in which 

 they lodge, have been taken from the jaw. 



Every wound which penetrates this or any other duct of the salivary 

 glands soon becomes a fistulous and offensive sore ; the fluid secreted by 

 the gland finds its way out through the false opening, while none of it 

 enters the mouth to perform its natural function in preparing the food 

 for the stomach, so that the horse soon begins to lose flesh, and finally 

 assumes a wretched and loathsome appearance. 



The opening of the parotid duct occasionally occurs, perhaps, from the 

 opening of abscesses attending strangles or distemper. 



How to know it. — The digestion necessarily becomes deranged when 

 the process of mastication is carried on for any considerable length of 

 time without the foods being moistened by that secretion which the paro* 

 tid duct in a healthy condition furnishes ; but the orifice in the skin under 

 the jaw or on the cheek at the large muscle, discharging a liquid some- 

 what resembling the white of an egg, is the unmistakable indication of 

 the disorder under consideration. Durins; the act of feeding this fluid is 

 freely discharged, even sometimes squirting from the wound, and especi- 

 ally so if the food is dry and hard to chew. It will be noticed that in 

 chewing the horse uses the opposite side of the mouth from that on 

 which the opening occurs, and that the process is slow and diflScult. The 

 edges of the wound soon become callous, the running of the stream down 

 the cheek destroys the hair, and the whole part has a fistulous and filthy 

 appearan(^e. 



What to do — In the first place, especial care must be taken to keep- 

 the animal, during the period required for effecting a cure, upon food 

 that requires no chewing. It should be sufficiently plentiful and nutri- 

 tious to prevent the uneasiness of hunger. Soft mashes and gruels alone 

 should constitute the diet. Another precaution is necessary when he is. 



