DIARRH@A. | 507 
the sanie quantity of sulphuric ether. If there is any tenderness of the 
abdomen, or the pulse has a tendency to quicken, it will be better to 
resort to bleeding, which alone will sometimes cause the peristaltic action 
to be restored in a healthy manner. The case, however, requires great 
patience and judgment, and as no great good can often be effected, it is 
highly necessary to avoid doing harm, which can hardly be avoided if the 
remedies employed are not at once successful. 
WHEN THE URGENT SYMPTOMS of colic in any of its forms are relieved, 
great care must be exercised that a relapse does not take place from the 
use of improper food. The water should be carefully chilled, and a warm 
bran mash should be given, containing in it half a feed of bruised oats, 
Nothing but these at moderate intervals, in the shape of food or drink. 
should be allowed for a day or two, and then the horse may gradually 
return to his customary treatment, avoiding, of course, everything which 
may appear to have contributed to the development of colic. 
DIARRHG@A AND DYSENTERY. 
A DISTINCTION is attempted to be made between these two diseases,— 
the former name being confined to an inflammation of the mucous mem- 
brane of the small intestines, while the latter is said to reside in the 
large. It is very difficult, however, if not impossible, to distinguish the 
one from the other by the symptoms during life, and in ordinary practice 
they may be considered as one disease, the treatment depending in great 
measure on the exciting cause. This in most cases is to be found in the 
use of too violent “‘ physic,” or in not resting the horse after it has begun 
to act until some hours after it has completely “set.” Sometimes it 
depends upon the cells of the colon having long been loaded with feces, 
which causes, at length, their mucous lining to inflame, the consequent 
secretion having a tendency to loosen them and procure their dismissal, 
either by solution or by the forcible contraction of the muscular coat. 
This last disease is known by the name of “molten grease” to old- 
fashioned farriers, the clear mucus which envelopes the lumps of feces 
being supposed to be derived from the internal fat that is generally plen- 
tifully developed in the highly fed horses that are especially subject to 
the attack. For practical purposes, therefore, we may consider the dif- 
ferent forms under the head of superpurgation, diarrhoea, and dysentery, 
meaning by the last name that condition which is brought about by and 
attended with a discharge of lumps of hard fecal matter enveloped in 
mucus. 
SUPERPURGATION is sometimes so severe as to place a delicate horse in 
great danger. When the action of the bowels has gone on for three or 
four days consecutively, and there is no disposition to “set,” the eyes 
become staring and glassy, the pulse is feeble, and the heart flutters in 
the most distressing manner ; the mouth has a peculiarly offensive smell, 
the tongue being pale and covered with a white fur having a brown 
centre. The abdomen is generally tucked tightly up, but in the later stages 
large volumes of gas are evolved, and it becomes tumid. 
The treatment should consist in the exhibition of rice, boiled till quite 
soft, and if not taken voluntarily, it should be given as a drench, mixed 
into a thin liquid form with warm water. If the case is severe, one or 
two ounces of laudanum may be added to a quart of rice milk, and given 
every time the bowels act with violence. Ora thin gruel may be made 
with wheat meal, and the laudanum be mixed with that instead of the 
