662 INTESTINAL SYMPTOMS AND FUNCTIONAL DISORDERS. 



water or gruel ; or what may serve the purpose equally well, 

 is four ounces of solution of acetate of ammonia, with half a 

 drachm of extract of belladonna, to which is added from four 

 to six minims of Fleming's tincture of aconite. For many 

 years I have, in all cases of colic and bowel affections with 

 m^uch pain, found that this, in the large majority of instances, 

 is speedily and permanently removed by the subcutaneous 

 injection of the B. P. preparation of morphia. This preparation 

 I employed in doses of forty minims, thus conveying into the 

 system with each injection three and one-third grains of the 

 salt. This quantity rarely requires to be ro[)eated. 



The part of the body I have generally chosen for injecting 

 the solution is in front of the sternum ; it may be done any- 

 where, but is most conveniently carried out where the skin is 

 thin, and where it moves freely on the subcutaneous connec- 

 tive-tissue. 



I have not, save in a very few instances, seen any untoward 

 results from the use of this morphia preparation. In these 

 exceptional cases, after the animal's recovery, there existed 

 an indurated nodule, afterAvards developing into an abscess 

 at the point Avhere the needle had been introduced. In 

 addition to the internal administration of antispasmodics 

 and anodynes, good will often be obtained from the employ- 

 ment of smart friction or of warmth through means of rugs 

 wrung from hot water, with an after-application of soap or 

 turpentine liniment. 



In those cases of colic where tympany is an attractive fea- 

 ture, we can less afford to wait patiently until the purgative 

 has acted than where pain alone is predominant. 



In the control of this condition the whole of those agents- 

 which from their supposed chemical or other action have been 

 recommended and employed are extremely uncertain, at ono 

 time seeming to be beneficial, and at another — under condi- 

 tions, as far as we can discover, similar — perfectly inert. Those 

 which I have fancied the most useful are carbonate of soda, 

 tincture of assafoctida, common salt, hyposuljahite of soda, 

 preparations of ammonia and oil of turpentine. The last, 

 when combined with oil, the form in which it has so long and 

 so extensively been used in colic, is probably more beneficial 

 in cases Avherc tympany is a distinct feature than most others. 



