DISEASES OF THE MOUTH. 



Relative susceptibility to disease of the mouth : Food ; irritants ; bits ; 

 ropes ; speculum ; sharp metallic bodies ; micro-organisms ; functional ; 

 nervous. 



These are met with in all domestic animals, but are above all 

 common in horses, oxen and pigs, partly because of special sus- 

 ceptibilities and of the nature of the food, but largely by reason 

 of the exposure of this part to mechanical injuries, especially in 

 horses and cattle. Hard bits and the harder hands of cruel and 

 ruthless drivers ; nooses of rope tied over the lower jaw and 

 tongue, iron stirrup, clevis, or balling iron used without cover 

 to force the jaws apart ; a large drenching horn employed as a 

 lever for the same purpose ; an extemporized Yankee bridle 

 rudely applied or used in breaking a colt ; the method of curing 

 a balking or jibbing horse by tying a rope to his lower jaw and 

 to a bar extending forward from the pole ; pins, needles, thorns 

 and other sharp bodies, and irritants in food or medicine, are 

 among the causes of such disorders. Then there are the many 

 irritating microorganismal ferments in food, water, mucus, etc., 

 and irritant and hot medicines and food to account for local in- 

 flammations. 



FUNCTIONAL DISORDERS. 



Among these are the convulsive closure of the jaws in tetanus, 

 the flaccid state of the lips, cheek, and tongue in paralysis, and 

 the pendent state of the lower jaw in paralytic canine madness. 

 See these different subjects. 



