LESIONS OF THE PAROTID DUCT. 355 
painful, cause the patients much suffering, and only promise a 
very tardy cure. 
3d. That the application of many of them is liable to induce 
serious disease of the salivary apparatus, 
4th. That cicatrization often does not take place until the func- 
tions of the gland are annihilated. 
If it be true, as long asserted, that it is in surgery particu- 
larly that human and veterinary medicine come most directly 
and immediately in contact with each other, will it be irrational to 
admit, that the treatment we have employed with so much success 
in combatting salivary fistulae of the parotid duct in the horse 
might be attended with equally favourable results if applied to the 
human being ? We certainly have not the presumption to assert that 
our opinion has received the sanction of experience : full well do 
we know, from daily observation, that subjects which appear most 
seductive and feasible in theory utterly fail when brought to the 
test of practice. But, in this case, we cannot divest ourselves of 
a certain degree of hope, and confidently recommend that our treat- 
ment may, at least, be allowed a fair trial. If it has succeeded in 
the horse, where it is so difficult to restrain the motion of the jaws, 
to prevent the tongue from being constantly moved about, to feed 
the animal for any length of time on aliments requiring little mas- 
tication, and to prevent him from rubbing the part; if, under all 
these disadvantages, it is possible to obtain a cure, surely our 
mode of treatment must be crowned with success in the human 
being, where it is so easy to obtain a rigorous observance of all 
those conditions that tend so powerfully in our practice to bring 
about cicatrization of fistulous wounds of the parotid duct ! 
Without farther comment, we present our experience to the 
calm deliberation of those talented hospital surgeons who so often 
have an opportunity of observing accidents of this nature. We 
shall feel perfectly recompensed for our labour if our work serves to 
verify our motto : “ s’il est vrai que, pour se constituer, la medecine 
veterinaire a en recours a la medicine humaine, si journellement 
encore elle lui fait de nombreux emprunts, elle lui a toujours 
offert et livre en retour, le fruit de ses observations, de ses re- 
cherches, et de ses experiences .” — Recueil de Medecine Veteri • 
' naive , 1845, Septembre, Novembre. 
