238 DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. 



CALCULI, OR STONES, IN THE INTESTINES 



These are a cause of inflammation in the bowels of the horse, and more frequently 

 of colic. They are generally found in the coecum or colon, varying considerably in 

 shape according to the nucleus round which the sabulous or other earthy matter 

 collects, or the form of the cell in which they have been lodged. They differ in size 

 and weight, from a few grains to several pounds. From the horizontal position of the 

 carcase of the horse, the calculus, when it begins to form, does not gravitate so much 

 aa in the human being, and therefore calculous concretions remain and accumulate 

 until their very size prevents their expulsion, and a fatal irritation is too frequently 

 produced by their motion and weight. They are oftenest found in heavy draught, 

 and in millers' horses. In some of these horses they have the appearance of grit-stone 

 or crystallized gneiss. It is probable that they partly consist of these very minerals, 

 combined with the bran which is continually floating about. An analysis of the 

 Calculi favours this supposition. They are a source of continual irritation wherevei 

 they are placed, and are a fruitful cause of colic. Spasms of the most fearful kind 

 have been clearly traced to them.* 



Professor Morton, of the Royal Veterinary College, in his Essay on Calculous 

 Concretions, a work that is far too valuable to be withdrawn from the public view, 

 gives an interesting account of these substances in the intestinal canal of the horse. 

 Little advance has been or can be made to procure their expulsion, or even to deter- 

 mine their existence ; and even when they have passed into the rectum, although 

 some have been expelled, others have been so firmly impacted as to resist all medi- 

 cinal means of withdrawal, and a few have broken their way through the parietes of 

 the rectum, and lodge' 1 in the abdominal cavity. Mr. Percivall, in his " Elementary 

 Lectures on the Veterinary Art," has recorded several fearful cases of this.f 



Other concretions are described under the title of oat-hair calculi. Their surface is 

 t'lberculated and their forms irregular. They are usually without any distinct nuclei, 

 and are principally composed of the hairy fibrous matter which enters into the com- 

 position of the oat. The professor very properly adds, and it is a circumstance which 

 deserves much consideration, that such oats as are husky, with a deficiency of 

 farinaceous matter, are likely to give rise to these accumulations, whenever impaired 

 digestion exists. It is also an undoubted fact, that a great proportion of horses 

 affected with calculi are the property of millers, or brewers. A third species of con- 

 cretion too frequently existing is the dung-ball, or mixed calculus. It is made up of 

 coarse, indigestible, excrementitious matter, mixed with portions of the " oat-hair 

 calculus," 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 vora 

 cious feeders, and mingled with particles of coal and stone. 



INTROSTJSCEPTION OF THE INTESTINES. 



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

 inverted one from the ccecum towards the stomach, more powerful than in the natural 

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

 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. Ever, 

 the natural motion of the bowels will be sufficient 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 invaginated within the duodenum, and also within the ileum, and 

 the ileum within the ccecum 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 introsusception have occurred in one animal, and 

 sometimes unconnected with any appearance of inflammation ; but in other cases, 01 

 'n other parts of the intestinal canal of the same animal, there will be inflammation 

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



Veterinarian IX. 161 * Vol. II. p. 449. 



