220 The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



cure, and death soon closes the scene. Horses that 

 have frequent attacks of colic may he suspected of 

 having stone in the intestines, most probably in the 

 caecum or colon. Sometimes they are of several pounds 

 weight. Professor Pritchard showed me one this sum- 

 mer as large as a full-sized cocoa nut, which was taken 

 out of a horse that had died of spasmodic colic. These 

 obstructing the passage of the gut produce colic pains, 

 and at other times, when exceedingly large, by pressing 

 upon the mucous membrane produce inflammation- 

 But as yet Ave know of no distinctly marked symptom 

 to tell us of their presence, and no certain mode has 

 been discovered for their removal. Another evil aris- 

 ing out of long-continued spasmodic colic is interrup- 

 tion of the intestines ; this from long-continued spas- 

 modic action on the ileum sometimes causes an inverted 

 pressure upon the caecum towards the stomach, which 

 overcomes the natural action and forces this contracted 

 portion of the intentines into a portion above it which 

 retains its natural calibre. The irritation thereby pro- 

 duced increases the upward action, and causes still more 

 of the intestine to be forced inward, until an obstruction 

 of an insurmountable character is produced. We have 

 nothing to indicate that this incurable malady has taken 

 place but the long-continued pain. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS. 



This is not a common complaint, yet occasionally 



cases of this kind crop up, and are usually produced by 



fever, and when completely formed the horse stands with 



its hind legs wide apart, and has an awkward gait in its 



