INFLAMMATION OF THE MOUTH AND TEETH. 387 
the briars and thorns which a spaniel or hound has to pass through 
in hunting for his game. Still, it should lead to a careful inspec- 
tion, and if it continues for any length of time it may be generally 
concluded that there is an internal cause for it. 
The treatment should in every case be chiefly directed to the 
internal passage, but the cap which is sometimes ordered to be 
applied to the head, with a view of keeping the ears quiet, having 
a tendency to increase the internal inflammation, is, therefore, 
rather prejudicial than otherwise. he first thing to be done is 
to lower the system by purgatives (11), (12), (15), or (16), with 
low diet, including no animal food. As soon as this has produced 
a decided effect, the nitrate of silver wash (22), the ointment (58a), 
melted, or the sulphate of zinc (20) should be dropped into the 
ear-passage, changing the one for the other every second or third 
day. Or the powder of the green iodide of mercury should be 
brushed in. At the same time the sores on the edges of the ears 
may be touched with bluestone daily, which will dry them up. In 
slight cases this treatment will suffice for a cure, if carried on for 
three weeks or a month, but in long-standing attacks a seton must 
be put into the back of the neck, and this seldom fails to afford 
relief. Ifthe inflammation in the external ear has been so great as 
to produce abscesses, they must be slit open with the knife to the 
very lowest point, as wherever matter is confined in a pouch there 
can be no tendency to heal. Whenever anything is to be done to 
the ear the dog must be muzzled, as the head cannot otherwise be 
held sufficiently still, and in pouring in the lotion the head must 
be placed on a table, and held there steadily for some minutes, so 
that the fluid may have time to penetrate the whcle canal. 
Deafness may arise from canker, or from rheumatic or other 
inflammation of the internal ear; but as no treatment is likely to 
be beneficial, there is no use in enlarging on the subject. The 
only remedy at all to be relied on in recent cases is the seton in 
the back of the neck. 
INFLAMMATION OF THE MOUTH AND TEETH. 
Dogs which are fed on strongly stimulating food are very apt to. 
lose their teeth by decay, and also to suffer from a spongy state. of 
