48 DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



■chloride of iron; but the hemorrhage is generally so slight as not 

 to require any styptics. It is best to thoroughly cauterize the 

 base, so as to prevent, if possible, the recurrence of the growth; 

 but frequently in spite of it they return. 



Fig. 16 

 Wire Scraseur. 



Besides these tumors of the membranes we have a growth called 

 ranula. Often an animal will become very slow in eating, and 

 if the mouth is examined we will find on one side of the tongue 

 and under it a large-sized, fluctuating swelling, reddish-blue in 

 color, and filled with a thick, creamy liquid. Many theories have 

 been advanced as to the cause of this disease; some consider it 

 to be the formation of an ordinary cyst, and others contend that it is 

 due to the plugging up of the ducts of one or more of the salivary 

 glands at the base of the tongue. The author has had five cases 

 under observation which he believes to be ranula. In three of 

 these cases the cause of the trouble was due to the obstruction of 

 the duct of Wharton, which has its entrance into the mouth at 

 the base of the lingual ligament, and in the other two cases it 

 was a cystoid degeneration of a few glands at the base of the 

 tongue, probably due to a plugging of the opening of their ducts 

 and a consequent inflammation of the glands themselves. It 

 therefore seems best to call all the cystoid formations under the 

 tongue, ranula. 



It is always advisable to operate on these cysts. Cut down on 

 the cyst with a lancet and make a good- sized opening, and by 

 means of a pair of curved scissors remove a portion of the upper 

 part of the wall, and cauterize the inner walls of the cyst with 

 the thermo-cautery. If "Wharton's duct is involved, be guarded 

 in the cauterization, confining it only to the anterior part of the 

 •cyst, toward the point of the tongue. The injection of pilocar- 

 pine, which has been used in man with success, according to Soffiii- 

 tini's method, has been tried in animals by Hoffmann. It con- 

 sists in creating a great amount of the salivary secretion, and by 

 force of the collected fluid from the inside break the obstruction 

 of the duct. The author, however, has not tried it. 



