. Diseases of cattle, sheep, goats and swine. Veterinary medicine. SEMIOLOGY OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 107 openinjj;, and detects the existence of any des(j^namation, rents, eruptions, ulcerations, etc., which may be present. In quiet animals the practitioner can examine the cavity of the mouth single-handed, hut in troublesome animals it becomes necessary to have an assistant, ^Yho seizes the muzzle with one hand and the tongue with the other, or who simply fixes the animal's head. In exceptional cases it will lie necessary to secure the patient to a post, tree, or wall. The mere attempt at
. Diseases of cattle, sheep, goats and swine. Veterinary medicine. SEMIOLOGY OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 107 openinjj;, and detects the existence of any des(j^namation, rents, eruptions, ulcerations, etc., which may be present. In quiet animals the practitioner can examine the cavity of the mouth single-handed, hut in troublesome animals it becomes necessary to have an assistant, ^Yho seizes the muzzle with one hand and the tongue with the other, or who simply fixes the animal's head. In exceptional cases it will lie necessary to secure the patient to a post, tree, or wall. The mere attempt at examination will show whether there is trismus or absolute freedom of movement in the jaws. By introducing the fingers between the commissures and applying them to the bars or to the free portion of the tongue, the prac- titioner will be able approxi- mately to estimate the local and general temperature. The sen- sations experienced will also inform him of the degree of moisture or dryness of the mouth and of its sensibility. On separating the jaws, he will note the odour exhaled and its possible abnormalities—its acid, sourish, foetid, or putrid character. He will directly ob- serve any anaemia or hyper- aemia of the mucous membrane, from the inner surface of the lips and cheeks up to the soft palate, although owing to the thickness of the buccal epithe- lium it is not always easy to estimate anajmia or hyperemia in the ox. The surface of the tongue should also be examined, and a note made whether it appear dry, pasty, dusty sooty, etc., though these appearances are occasionally apt to lead one astray. The observer should also inquire regarding want of appetite, depraved or exaggerated appetite, etc. Even the manner in which the animal picks up its food will serve to direct his attention to the development, or possible existence, of some disease of the mouth, ahhough want of appetite is not always charac- teristic of a lesion in the pharynx or ossophagus, but sometimes of a
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