ULCERATIVE STOMATITIS IN SOLIPEDS. 



Causes. Apart from the ulcerations and erosions of specific 

 diseases (glanders, horse-pox, pustulous stomatitis, aphthous 

 fever, etc. , ) this condition is especially liable to appear in anae- 

 mic and debilitated subjects (Cauvet), as in rachitis (Friedber- 

 ger and Frohner), cancer (Cadeac) chronic internal abcess (Ca- 

 deac), etc. As an exciting cause and as a means of furnishing 

 an infection atrium for the microbes of ulceration all conditions 

 of simple lesion of the mucous membrane — mechanical, chemical, 

 thermic, venomous, etc. , are operative. Dieckerhoff has described 

 it in connection with diphtheritic rhinitis, Friedberger with 

 a nasal and conjunctival catarrh, Zeilinger and Kohler with aph- 

 thous fever, Mobius and Hackbarth with trefoil poisoning. 



Lesions and Symptoms. There is the usual dainty feeding and 

 disposition to masticate imperfectly or even to drop the partly 

 insalivated morsels, working of the lips, the formation of froth 

 on their margins, and the driveling of saliva in long strings or 

 filaments. As the disease advances this becomes bloody and 

 foetid. The local lesions may be at first like white pulpy spots 

 of softened and degenerating epithelium, which is, exceptionally, 

 raised in blisters. This is followed by desquamation and the 

 formation of open sores which are indolent, and show a disposi- 

 tion to further erosion and extension. They may be rounded 

 or irregularly indented in their borders, and contain a brownish, 

 blackish or greenish viscid debris. They vary widely, however, 

 in general appearance and in their disposition to speedy or slug- 

 gish healing, being apparently influenced by the nature of the 

 pathogenic microbe and the susceptibility of the subject. In 

 some cases the molecular degeneration extends deeply into the 

 mucosa, and even over the edges of the lips into the adjacent 

 skin. Recovery and complete cicatrization may take place in 

 one week, or successive outbreaks may take place in the same 

 animal lasting in all for months as in Cadeac' s case associated 

 with' chronic abcess cf the mesentery. 



Treatme?it. The first consideration is to correct the debility 

 on which the affection is based. Iron and bitter tonics, mineral 



23 



