388 
FISTULOUS PAROTID DUCT. 
be added, attempts to diminish the secretion of the affected gland, 
or to restrain its current. 
Plaisters will be found to be made to adhere with difficulty, 
not merely on account of the known inaptitude of the hairy skin 
of the horse for any such application, but also from the issue of 
moisture underneath them, which completely destroys their ad¬ 
hesive properties .—Sutures could only prove serviceable in a 
recent case of open incised wound .—Bandages may be made to 
operate beneficially in more ways than one. 1st. They may be 
so applied as to retain a firm compress upon the fistulous aper¬ 
ture. 2dly. They may be so adjusted as to impede or prevent 
the motion of the jaw; though, probably,, this is best accom¬ 
plished by tightening the nose-band of the head-collar. 3dly. 
They may also be made to confine a compress or pad against the 
affected parotid gland, which is likely and has seemed to have 
had the effect of diminishing the secretion, as well as of restraining 
its current. I shall not dwell, however, on these means; because, 
simple as they appear to be, they will be found to be troublesome 
in practice, and because (although I consider it my duty to notice 
them) they are, in truth, much better adapted for human than 
veterinary surgery. Not that the horse’s skin (as has been erro¬ 
neously stated) is insusceptible of union by the first intention; 
but that, from the difficulty we experience in retaining divided 
parts in apposition, we rarely practise this branch of surgery with 
great success. 
In the repair of these breaches, the process of gTanulation 
appears to be that most congenial to nature, and consequently the 
one it is most particularly our interest to keep in view. In cases 
in which the fistula is the result of destruction of substance, from 
abscess or sloughing, all becomes restored again by the granu- 
latoiy process consequent thereon : the salivary canals ulcemte in 
common with other parts, and with them have their integrity 
renewed. No special treatment, in this instance, is required. But 
supposing that the salivary tube remains unclosed after the 
chasms around it are filled up, or (what amounts to the same 
thing) supposing it to be a case in which our attempts at union 
by the first intention have failed, what ought to be our plan of 
procedure ? 
Why, still keeping in view the resources of nature, if w^e 
cannot invite union in one way, if we find the parts of them¬ 
selves indisposed to heal up, we must endeavour to excite a 
sanative action in them ^ by artificial means, so as to effect 
union by the process of granulation. Stimulants, escharotics, 
caustics of various kinds and intensities, either in a fluid or 
