COMPLETE LACERATION OF THE TONGUE OF A 
HORSE. 
By M. Cailleux. 
A horse, belonging to the 3d squadron of the 4th regiment 
of Hussars, was very difficult to groom. The soldier who had 
the care of him, in order the better to manage him, fixed in his 
mouth and on his tongue a strong chain of iron, deeply serrated, 
and confined beneath the jaw by a piece of cord. Another man 
held the ends of the chain, and gave it a terrible jerk whenever 
the horse was disposed to be rebellious. The horse became un- 
manageable ; and the man who held the chain, sawing away with 
all his force, the tongue was completely cut off at its base, and 
fell to the ground. 
Being immediately called on to attend the horse, I did not find 
much hemorrhage, probably because the mischief was done by 
means of a serrated and not a cutting instrument. The portion 
of tongue detached was four inches and a half in length, and the 
disunion was effected at the fraenum, or precisely at the point 
which separates the base of the tongue from the free portion 
of it. 
My first thought was to destroy the animal ; but the interest 
which every one took in him, on account of his power and his 
docility in every respect except when he was groomed, and the 
desire to ascertain how he would feed himself when the useful 
part of the tongue was taken away — all these circumstances 
encouraged me to endeavour to save his life. 
My first care, after having placed him in a loose box, was to 
stop the bleeding, and promote the speedy healing of the wound. 
I kept his mouth constantly open by means of a gag, which I 
could extend or contract at pleasure; and I frequently injected 
cold barley-water, sugared and honied, and deprived the animal 
of every kind of food. 
The bleeding was soon arrested ; a slight suppuration was 
established. I applied to the wound, many times every day, 
pledgets of tow dipped in diluted tincture of aloes. On the third 
day I thought the wound in a sufficiently favourable way to 
allow him to have a little food and drink. 
I gave him during the first days barley-meal and water. I 
remarked that he plunged his head into the liquid half way 
up to the eyes, and then by means of the strongest inspira- 
tions, and sucking up a very little at a time, he contrived to 
empty the vessel. I then made him a kind of paste of bran and 
barley-meal, and offered it to him : he attacked it with avidity ; 
