nually getting into the wound, precludes all hope of that. We may, however, succeed in preventing further laceration and consequent loss of the part below the wound. Though, when there appears no danger (from the depth of the wound) of any such loss, the case will do as well, or even better, without such assistance. We may promote the healing by rubbing the parts occasionally with powdered alum; taking care, prior to dressing, to cleanse the wound thoroughly from all the masticated matter that may have got lodged in it. JAWS.-The repeated contusions made by the pressure of the port of a sharp curb-bit, will, now and then, be followed by exulceration of the bone, considerable portions of which will come away through the opening; or the injury may go so far as to cause fracture of the jaw. The common situation for this ulcer is in the hollow underneath the tongue; though on occasions the palate is the seat of it. The jaw, however, is subject to another kind of injury, one from violence used with the curbrein, externally, in the situation in which it is embraced, and squeezed, and bruised, by the curb itself. In a case of this kind, the bone of the jaw becomes tumid and hot, and so tender that the animal will hardly suffer any one to touch it. Abscess forms within the bone; the matter becomes discharged through an opening posteriorly, into which we readily introduce the silver probe for some extent, and feel with it the rugged surfaces of ulcerated bone: or the caries may have become so deep and extensive as to leave a cavity large enough to admit the finger. Now and then we discover a loose broken piece of bone. In most cases there is carious bone to come away; and therefore we must not think of closing too early the external wound. At first, mild and assuasive treatment is best. Fomentation; poultices are good, but troublesome of application: an excellent mode of fomentation is to steam the parts by hanging a hair nose-bag on the head. Give the horse purgative medicine, and If he must be used, let him be worked keep him on soft meat. in a snaffle-bit. The best dressings for these sloughy sores in bones are some of the mineral acids diluted: an excellent one is a mixture of half FISTULOUS PAROTID DUCT. 185 a drachm of nitric acid to an ounce of water. Should there appear any disposition in the wound in the soft parts to close over the bone, rub them with lunar caustic, or cover them with the powder of blue vitriol. As soon as the wound begins to granulate from the bottom, tincture of myrrh or benzoin may be used. THE LIPS AND CHEEKS now and then suffer abrasion or laceration. The corners or angles of the lips are occasionally severely cut by sharp and twisted snaffles. The cheeks may get abraded, and run into a state of ulceration from the outer edges of the grinding teeth becoming sharp and prominent in consequence of irregular or slanting wear. Most extraordinary cases of this kind (at least as far as regards the appearance of the teeth) present themselves; affording us the best proof we can adduce of the continual growth and wear of those bodies. These sores, which are, in general, but superficial, require nothing more after the exciting cause is got rid of, than dressing once or twice a-day by rincing the mouth out with some astringent gargle. A very good one is made by dissolving an ounce of alum in a quart of water, and adding a drachm of sulphuric acid to the mixture. In cases in which sharp grinders produce the mischief, their edges must be filed off with the Tooth-rasp. FISTULOUS PAROTID DUCT. I introduce this affection in this place, because there appears every reason to believe that it is much oftener the effect of injury than the result of disease. It is a subject on which, in the year 1828, I gave a paper to the Veterinary Medical Society; and, as I have not had any opportunities since of adding to what I have therein written, I shall on the present occasion take that paper as my guide*. By a fistulous parotid duct is meant, an unnatural sinuous * Those who may feel desirous for more detail than my present limits will permit me to introduce, had better peruse that paper. It is contained in "The Veterinarian" for 1828. side of the cheek. opening communicating with some part or other of the said duct, and through which saliva or spittle is discharge.d The situation of this aperture, in course, will depend on what part of the duct happens to have received the wound or injury: it may be either the root of the ear, the lower border of the jaw, or the The issue of saliva at once proclaims the nature of the case, which is further confirmed by the situation of the opening; and frequently, in addition, by the distention of that portion of the duct, between the opening and the parotid gland, in consequence of the accumulation of saliva. The emissions of saliva are most remarkable during mastication; and particularly at the time the animal makes his first morning's meal, or commences feeding after long fasting. In cases of long standing, the duct itself undergoes considerable enlargement; so that instead of being comparable (as it is in its natural condition) to a goose-quill, it becomes voluminous enough to admit one's finger. Indeed, every now and then we meet with a horse having, simply, enlargement of the duct. My cousin, Mr. C. Percivall, V. S. Royal Artillery, relates a case in the first vol. of The Veterinarian, in which, at one part, it was "as large as a duck's egg;"-" being," as he adds, being," as he adds, "where it had been punctured." And this is the probable history of most of such cases. He tried to reduce the dilated duct by repeated blisters; but failed to make any impression on it. Enlarged Parotid Duct. FISTULOUS PAROTID DUCT. 187 THE CAUSES of this fistula are either natural or artificial. Among the chief of the natural may be mentioned, abscess of the parotid gland and strangles. The artificial causes are wounds and injuries of all kinds; in particular, punctured wounds. TREATMENT. Although these cases may appear to a casual or unprofessional observer of trivial import, they commonly turn out to be of an exceedingly troublesome description to the veterinary practitioner. Should the puncture or breach in the duct be recent, we may try the effect of plasters, and sutures, and bandages, by way of arresting the issue, and healing it up but I would rather myself at once have recourse to the hot iron; for I believe that to be superior to every other remedy; and the sooner it is applied, the better chance we have of success. A small budding-iron-one so reduced at the point that it may enter the fistulous orifice-heated to intense redness, is the proper instrument. The immediate object is to form (by its searing effects) an eschar or sort of plug over the opening that will serve as a temporary stoppage to the issue: the ulterior effect of the cauterization being to produce a slough, which, when cast off, leaves a granulating surface to seal up the unnatural aperture. THE CLOSURE OF THE MOUTH OF THE DUCT (or natural termination of it on the inside of the cheek) in some cases proves a complete bar to the success of any attempt at sealing the fistulous opening. In a case of this description, a seton through the cheek is in human surgery recommended. One of an ordinary sort, however, will not answer. The horse will bite off any knot that may come against his grinders with as much ease as one would snip it with scissors. The only method by which I could maintain a seton in the cheek, was by attaching a flat metallic button (with holes through it, but without a shank) to the tape, which being drawn and confined close to the inside of his cheek, prevented him from catching hold of it with his teeth. The object of the seton was to make, in time, a fistulous orifice internally; and then to heal that (by caustic) which was external. Feasible however as this seems, in the case wherein I made the experiment, after every effort I completely failed. LAST BUT SURE RESOURCES.-Should we not succeed by any of the more simple and lenient methods of cure that have been detailed, there is one to which we may resort with tolerable certainty of accomplishing our end, though it is one over which experience has not yet given us the same control as we possess over the others. I was first led to make the experiment from having been foiled in the use of other remedies. I consulted some French accounts-the only ones there are on the subject— and I found that M. Leblanc, a veterinary surgeon, at Paris, had actually extirpated, by incision, the parotid gland, and in this way had got rid of the fistula. The operation appeared to me to be one of the most formidable description: happening, however, to have a condemned subject in my possession at the time, I first performed it on him by way of experiment; and I succeeded even better than I had anticipated. But such was the hemorrhage during the operation, and such the nice dissection and anatomical skill required at every step of the proceeding, in order to avoid wounding or severing one or other of the many large and important blood vessels and nerves running through or near the gland, that (added to the consideration of the time required—a month at least—for the wound to heal) I must confess I felt little disposed to repeat the experiment on a case I had at that very time in the infirmary, and for the immediate benefit of which I was making such inquiries. Another French writer, Hurtrel d'Arboval, conceived the idea of the possibility of paralysing the gland, of depriving it of vitality, or at least rendering it in this manner incapable of any secretory action. This he proposed to effect by compression, so contrived that the gland might be in a manner isolated; its communication with the surrounding parts being (by means of irons adjusted so as to press all around it) more or less completely intercepted. The experiment, however, failed; and the cure was at length forced to be effected by actual cauterization and destruction, in that way, of the entire substance of the gland. THE AUTHOR'S METHOD OF CURE.-Dissatisfied and displeased with all these three modes of proceeding, it struck me that the same object, viz. the destruction of the gland, might be |