24 



DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



and especially on the edges of the tongue ; they are found also upon 

 the visible parts of the pituitary mucous membrane ; here they 

 are covered with a thick dark crust. The following lesions are 

 found at the autopsy : the nasal, laryngeal, pharyngeal, and buccal 

 mucous membranes are inflamed and covered with erosions. The 

 lower edge of the posterior pulmonary lobes is hepatized and of a 

 dark -red color ; the cut surface is granulous and discharges a 

 bloody liquid. In compressing the bronchial tubes a spumous 

 dark chocolate-colored liquid trickles out of them. 



Berndt has found on microscopic examination, numerous rami- 

 fied filaments and small chains of spores of the Polydesmus exitiosus, 

 between the epithelial cells of the mucous membranes of the nose 

 and mouth. The lambs were fed on rape cakes in which the 

 sporules of the Ascomycetes were to be found. The progress of 

 the disease was arrested as soon as this food was discontinued. 



A contagious ulcerous stomatitis similar to the preceding case, * 

 has been described by Rivolta. It was complicated by conjunc- 

 tivitis, pneumonia, and hepatitis. This author ascribes the trouble 

 to a schizomycete {Bacterium subtile œquorum). Gips has also 

 described a mouth-rot in lambs. 



Prognosis. The prognosis varies according to the individual. 

 The age of the animal, extension of the lesions, and their effect 

 upon the general condition, must be taken into consideration in 

 order to draw our conclusions. There is much less danger for 

 young vigorous animals than for old ones which are weak and 

 exhausted ; small lesions are much less serious than wide or con- 

 fluent ulcerations. We must observe here that ulcerative stomatitis 

 is more rarely accompanied by fatal septicemia than phagedenic 

 accidents, with their seat in other parts of the body, for instance, 

 in the intestine. The anatomical construction of the buccal cavity 

 is evidently not favorable to the production of septicemia ; dentists 

 have frequently observed this in human beings. 



Treatment. Substantial food ought to be given, composed of 

 hacked and soft substances. The animals should be put in well- 

 ventilated rooms or in the open air. The same solutions as pre- 

 scribed for catarrhal stomatitis have to be used to disinfect the 

 mouth. Carbolic acid seems to be the best therapeutic agent; it 

 is an excellent antiseptic, it removes all bad odor and is not toxic. 

 It may be used in a 1 to 2 per cent, solution. A solution of 1 to 

 2 per cent of carbolic or boric acid, corrosive sublimate in 1 : 1 000, 



