306 INTROSUSCEPTION OF THE INTESTINES. 



an undoubted fact, that a great proportion of horses affected with calculi are 

 the property of millers, or brewers. A third species of concretion too frequently 

 existing is the dung-ball, or mixed calculus. It is made up of coarse, indi- 

 gestible, excrementitious matter, mixed with portions of the " oat-hair cal 

 culus" and many foreign substances, such as pieces of coal, gravel, &c., and 

 the whole agglutinated together. They are commonly met with in horses that 

 are voracious feeders, and mingled with particles of coal and stone. 



INTROSUSCEPTION OF THE INTESTINES. 



The spasmodic action of the ileum being long continued, may be succeeded by 

 an inverted one from the coecum towards the stomach, more powerful than in the 

 natural direction ; and the contracted portion of the intestine will be thus forced 

 into another above it that retains its natural calibre. The irritation caused 

 by this increases the inverted action, and an obstruction is formed which no 

 power can overcome. Even the natural motion of the bowels will be suffi- 

 cient to produce introsusception, when the contraction of a portion of the ileum 

 is very great. There are no symptoms to indicate the presence of this, except 

 continued and increasing pain ; or, if there were, all our means of relief would 

 here fail. 



Introsusception is not confined to any particular situation. A portion of the 

 jejunum has been found in vaginated within the duodenum, and also within 

 the ileum, and the ileum within the coecum and one portion of the colon within 

 another, and within the rectum. The ileum and jejunum are occasionally 

 invaginated in various places. More than a dozen distinct cases of introsus- 

 ception have occurred in one animal, and sometimes unconnected with any 

 appearance of inflammation, but in other cases, or in other parts of the intes- 

 tinal canal of the same animal, there will be inflammation of the most intense 

 character. In the majority of cases, perhaps it is an accidental consequence 

 of pre-existing disease, and occasioned by some irregular action of the mus- 

 cular tunic, or some irritation of the mucous surface. 



A more formidable, but not so frequent disease is 



ENTANGLEMENT OF THE BOWELS. 



This is another and singular consequence of colic. Although the ileum is 

 enveloped in the mesentery, and its motion to a considerable degree confined, 

 yet under the spasm of colic, and during the violence with which the animal 

 rolls and throws himself about, portions of the intestine become so entangled 

 as to be twisted into nooses and knots, drawn together with a degree of tight- 

 ness scarcely credible. Nothing but the extreme and continued torture of the 

 animal can lead us to suspect that this has taken place, and, could we ascertain 

 its existence, there would be no cure. 



An interesting case occurred in the practice of Mr. Spooner of Southampton. 

 A mare at grass was suddenly taken ill. She discovered symptoms of violent colic, 

 for which anti-spasmodic and aperient medicines were promptly administered, 

 and she was copiously bled. The most active treatment was had recourse to, 

 but without avail, and she died in less than four-and-twenty hours without a 

 momentary relief from pain. 



The small intestines were completely black from inflammation, and portions 

 of them were knotted together in the singular way delineated in this cut. The 

 parts are a little loosened in order better to show the entanglement of the 

 intestines, but in the animal they were drawn into a tight knot, and completely 

 intercepted all passage. 



