SCALD MOUTH. 83 
denoting a gnawing agony, but not expressive of overpowering anguish, 
are visited with chastisement. 
The groom is not entirely to blame. The fault resides with his 
superiors, whom the servant apes. The sin rests with those who (un- 
able to keep a stud-groom) think their duty is discharged by a daily 
scamper through the stable before they go to business; with those who 
by their manners corrupt the groom’s simplicity, while by a strange 
costume they induce the ignorant fellow to regard the badge of his dis- 
grace as the upholder of his pride. To the upper classes, the short- 
comings of stable men cling; with the superiors, whose example should 
instruct, rests the real blame of the servant. With educated men abide 
the errors of the ignorant. 
After a scalding drench, an unusual redness declares the state of the 
mouth; a quantity of saliva flows from the restless lips, which are con- 
stantly in motion; they are being moved 
. perpetually up and down, and are always 
parting with a smack. The food, for a time, 
is rejected, but good gruel, if cold, is gen- 
erally taken freely. Boiled roots should con- 
stitute the nourishment for two months after- 
ward, the mouth being all the while washed 
with the application recommended for aphtha. 
No immediate danger is to be apprehended 
from scald mouth. The stomach is more disposed to assume chronic 
than acute disease. Probably the temporary services of the animal 
might well be dispensed with, and much might be gained by an extra 
months’ continuance of the prepared food. At all events, the experi- 
ment would be intended to ward off a possible evil; and, if we are to 
believe at all the motive, being based on goodness, the act would not 
be without its reward. 
