DISEASES OF HORSES 111 



the symptoms gradually subside, only to reappear when he has 

 again taken solid food. Liquids pass without any, or but little, 

 inconvenience. Should this dilatation exist in the cervical region, 

 surgical interference may sometimes prove effectual; if in the tho- 

 racic portion, nothing can be done, and the patient rapidly passes 

 from hand to hand by swapping, until at no distant date, the con- 

 tents of the sac become too firm to be dislodged as heretofore, and 

 the animal succumbs. 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND INTESTINES. 



As a rule it is most difficult to distinguish between diseases of 

 the stomach and of the intestines of the horse. The reason for this 

 is that the stomach is relatively small. It lies away from the ab- 

 dominal wall, and so pressure from without can not be brought to 

 bear upon it to reveal sensitiveness or pain. Nor does enlargement, 

 or distention, of the stomach produce visible alteration in the form 

 of the abdomen of the horse. Moreover, it is a rule to which there 

 are few exceptions that an irritant or cause of disease of the stom- 

 ach acts likewise upon the intestines, so that it is customary to find 

 them similarly deranged. For these reasons it is logical to discuss 

 together the diseases of the stomach and intestines and to point out 

 such localizations in one organ or another as are of importance in rec- 

 ognizing and treating the diseases of the digestive organs of the 

 horse. It should be understood that gastritis signifies an inflamma- 

 tion of the stomach and enteritis an inflammation of the intestines. 

 The two terms may be used together to signify a disease of the 

 stomach and intestines, as gastro-enteritis. 



COLIC. 



The disease of the horse that is most frequently met with ia 

 what is termed colic, and many are the remedies that are reputed to 

 be sure cures for this disease. Let us discover, then, what tne word 

 colic means. This term is applied loosely to almost all diseases of 

 the organs of the abdomen that are accompanied by pain. If the 

 horse evinces abdominal pain, he is likely to be put down as suffer- 

 ing with colic, no matter whether the difficulty be a cramp of the 

 bowel, an internal hernia, overloading of the stomach, or a painful 

 disease of the bladder or liver. Since these conditions differ so 

 much in their causation and their nature, it is manifestly absurd to 

 treat them alike and to expect the same drugs or procedures to re- 

 lieve them all. Therefore it is important that the various diseased 

 states that are so roughly classed together as colic shall, so far as pos- 

 sible, be separated and individualized in order that appropriate 

 treatments may be prescribed. With this object in view, colics will 

 be considered under the following headings: (1) Engorgement 

 colic, (2) obstruction colic, (3) tympanitic colic, (4) spasmodic 

 colic, (5) worm colic. 



The general symptoms of abdominal pain, and therefore of 

 colic, are restlessness, lying down, looking around toward the flank, 

 kicking with the hind feet upward and forward toward the belly, 

 jerky switching of the tail, stretching as though to urinate, frequent 

 change of position, and groaning. In the more intense forms the 



