CATARRHAL STOMATITIS. 



19 



brane, and from an arrest of the functional activity of this epithe- 

 lial surface, because of difficulty in the prehension and mastication 

 of food, which is taken in very small quantity ; on the other hand, 

 the lessening of the secretions leads to dryness of the mucous 

 membrane, and consequently to opacity of the epithelial cells, 

 which then become more visible. 



When the catarrh is more intense, the mucous membrane, 

 especially that of the lips, cheeks, and gums, becomes redder and 

 thicker. The exfoliation of the epithelium is copious, the back 

 of the tongue is thickly covered and streaked a dirty green or 

 brown by the alimentary particles. In the cat the papillae of 

 the tongue are white or yellowish, and are quite different from the 

 edge, which is of a bright red. In cattle and pigs we sometimes 

 observe hypertrophy of the inflamed conical papillae, which were 

 wrongly looked upon as a formation of aphthae (thrush of cattle's 

 tongue). The odor exhaled from the buccal cavity becomes offen- 

 sive. At the same time there is a hypersecretion of saliva and 

 mucus, which run out of the corners of the mouth in the form of 

 thick threads. When the saliva is very abundantly secreted, it 

 sometimes flows from the mouth in an uninterrupted stream ; at 

 other times it is converted into froth through mastication.^ 



Certain authors devote a special chapter to abundant salivation 

 (ptyalism), but it constitutes only a symptom common to a number 

 of diseases, among which we find in the first place stomatitis, then 

 affections of the stomach, intestine, uterus, ovaries, and the brain. 

 Ptyalism is sometimes a symptom of helminthiasis, otorrhea, and 

 parotitis. In several cases observed in the dog, we were not able 

 to determine its cause ; it is perhaps sometimes of cerebral origin. 

 The observations made in the horse and ox, in which ptyalism has 

 been attributed to the use of damaged fodder, where no sign of 

 stomatitis was to be detected, seem very extraordinary (see obser- 

 vations of Mathieu, Paugoué, Pech, and Born). 



Concerning salivation due to certain medicinal substances (mer- 

 cury, pilocarpine, morphine, iodine), see treatises of materia medica 

 and toxicology. 



1 In man the normal alkaline reaction of the saliva becomes acid in different dis- 

 eases, notably in pleurisy, encephalitis, rickets, dyspepsia, and diabetes (Gorup- 

 Besanezj. In our numerous researches upon animals, we have never recognized 

 the acid reaction of saliva. "Would this latter not be due, in man, to an acid fer- 

 mentation of particles of food remaining in the cavity of the mouth, or to decayed 

 teeth, etc. ? 



