520 



OPEBATIONS ON THE CIRCULATOEY SYSTEM. 



time without aid, but if it is desirable to continue it, the parts may 

 be fomented with warm water, or covered with a warm poultice. 

 (e) Bleeding at the PaZa«e.— Bleeding in this region of the 

 mouth is done by a division of the capiUary network which rests 

 between the mucous membrane and the fibrous coat which lines 

 the bones forming the palate. 



The bones represented by the inferior face of the palatine pro- 

 cess of the great maxillary bone, and the posterior face of the 

 short process of the anterior maxillary, are covered with a fibrous 

 coat, which extends over their whole surface and the cartilage 

 that fills up the incisive sHt. On each side of the palate run the 

 palato-labial arteries, which, forward, form 

 an arch, and anastomose together, and give 

 rise to a single branch, which enters the in- 

 cisive canal formed by the internal face of 

 the two small maxillaries. The veins, which 

 are very numerous, form a large network 

 which fills the space left between these two 

 large arteries. The whole is covered by the 

 mucous membrane, which is white, rosy, 

 thick, adherent to the fibrous coat, and 

 showing a number of rugae, about twenty, 

 curved forward and diminishing posteriorly 

 in size and prominence. Anteriorly they are 

 very large, by reason of the presence of a 

 certain amount of cellular tissue, which di- 

 minishes by degrees, from before backward. 

 The anastomosis of the arteries takes place 

 about on a level with the third rugse of the palatine surface, and 

 it is, therefore, posterior to this that the bleeding must be per- 

 formed to avoid wounding the artery. 



The instrument required is the simple bistoury, or the one rep- 

 resented in figure 451. The operator, facing the animal, and hold- 

 ing the tongue with the left hand, draws it out of the mouth on 

 the right side, and with the edge of the knife turned backward, 

 makes a small incision from before backward, in the middle of the 

 palate between the fourth and fifth rugse. There is no danger of 

 wounding the arteries if the incision is made at the proper place 

 and on the median line. When that is the case, the hemorrhage, 

 continuing for a variable length of time, subsides by degrees. 



Fig. 450.— Circulation 

 of the Palate, tw, Pala- 

 tine mucous membrane 

 6, grooves of the palate; 

 a, palato-labial artery. 



