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 su.s- 

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

 of the expo.sure 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 inflammations. 



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 the,se different subjects. 



