DRY CANCER IN THE TONGUE OF AN HEIFER. 691 
take it in good part. If you think the subjoined remarks worthy 
of insertion in your valuable Journal, they are at your service. 
It was in the month of April last, when the cattle epidemic 
was at its height in this neighbourhood, that I was sent for, a few 
miles from hence, to see a two-year-old heifer, which the owner 
apprehended was attacked with the prevailing disease ; and on 
my first entering the shed where she was, I was of that opinion : but 
as I always like to make a scrutinizing examination before I com- 
mit myself, I proceeded to examine the mouth, from which the 
saliva was drivelling in abundance. She was much emaciated, 
the carcass tucked up, but there was no soreness of the feet, nor 
was there any fever, the pulse being in a natural state, both in 
frequency and fulness — the nose also was moist. On opening the 
mouth, the cuticle of the tongue and the buccal membranes were in 
a sound state, neither abraded nor ulcerated ; but the entire struc- 
ture of the tongue was in one complete state of scirrhus and in- 
duration throughout : to use the owner’s familiar expression on my 
pointing it out to him, it was as hard as a board, and much larger 
than usual, the mouth scarcely being large enough to contain it, 
I must confess I was somewhat staggered at first, never having 
seen a case of the kind before ; but, on reflection, I considered it 
of a scirrhous chronic nature, and intimated to the owner my fear 
that the case would be a fatal one. As it was a favourite pet ani- 
mal, and had been given to the owner a short time before, he was 
very anxious that I should proceed with some kind of treatment ; I 
therefore freely and deeply punctured the tongue in eight or ten 
places with my lancet, yet nothing flowed from the incisions but a 
little venous blood. I also inserted a seton under the lower jaw, 
and gave small doses of calomel and sulphur twice a-day, until the 
bowels were slightly relaxed, dressing the seton daily with the 
compound unguent of tartar emetic and hellebore, which l have 
generally found produce active suppuration in cattle. As soon 
as the bowels responded, I gave small doses of hydriodate of pot- 
ash daily, and applied solutions of nit. potassae to the mouth, or- 
dering her to have bran mash and sliced turnips as diet, which 
she ravenously tried to devour, but could not masticate. Her 
tongue was so hard and stiff, that she could scarcely move it in 
any direction. Seeing this, I ordered her to be frequently 
drenched with gruel ; but in spite of all my attempts, every visit 
I paid her, which was usually every second or third day, I found 
the disease increasing, and my patient becoming more exhaust- 
ed ; until one morning, after I had had her under my care about 
a fortnight, the owner found her dead and cold. 
On examining her after death, all the viscera were in a perfectly 
normal state, both of the chest and abdomen : none of the other 
