90 COLIC DISTINGUISHED FROM INFLAMMATION. 



■R-oimrh and stinmlation, the other a cooling and reducing treatment, our first 

 duty is to ascertain precisely the exact nature of the attack; for a mistake on 

 this point wo'ild, ai.d does frequently, })rove fatal — ay, in human as weilasin 

 horse medicine. Thei*efore it is, that i have judged it expetlient to set down 

 here a table of the syn:ptonis that will enable the practitioner to distinguish 

 between the two kinds of attack. 



For this mode of setting before the eye in parallel columns the discriminating 

 symptoms of two s\ich app-irently similar disorders, 1 am indebted to Mr. 

 Ryding, who inserted it in his "Veterinary Pathology," 1801, pages 86, 87; 

 and it was copied by Whito into his " Comf)en<lium," 1803, with a few altera- 

 tions, by no means for the bctvC.-, I have adhered chiefly to Ryding, with but 

 one slight alteration. 



SYMPTOMS. 



A table for disting^nishing belxcccn 1>l Colic or Gripes, and Ivjlammation 

 of the Bowels, by the sT/mptoms tl:ut mark the character of each. 



Spasmodic or Flatulent Colic. Inflammation nf the Bowels. 



1. Pulse natural, though sometimes 1. Paioc very quic-k and small. 

 a little lower. 



2. The horse lies down, and rolls 2. He lies down and suddenly 

 upon his back. rises up again, seldom rolling upon 



his back. 



3. The legs and ears generally 3. Legs anJ ears generally cold, 

 warm. 



4. Attacks suddenly, is never pre- 4. In general, attacks gradually, ia 

 ceded, and seldom accompanied by commonly preceded, and always ac- 

 any symptoms of fever. companied by symptoms of fever. 



5. There are frequently short in- 5. No intermissions can be observ. 

 lermissions. ed. 



Whilst marking these distinctions, which ought to be kept in mind while 

 prescribing for disorders so nearly ahke at first view, but differing so widely 

 in effect, the reader is earnestly requested to turn to the Index, and there find 

 the page at which I have thought proper to treat pretty much at large of "In- 

 flammation of the Kidneys," " Diseases of the Urinary Organs," &c. He 

 will there perceive how fatally these affections have been mistaken for 

 *' Colic;" he will learn that this unhappy error is likely to happen more fre- 

 quently than would at the first glance be imagined; and he will observe tiiat 

 the symptoms correspond in many respects with those in the second column 

 above — therefore require an equal correspondent course of treatment, but that 

 the deposite of the stone in the kidney is an incurable disorder that admits of 

 no remedy. Furthermore, the reader will observe, that the whole of the article 

 alluded to, on "Calculus, or Stone," requires his strict attention: and also 

 bear in mind what is there said as to calculous sul)stances which are deposited 

 m tho coecum or blind gut, producing symptoms so much like spasmodic 

 colic, that much care is necessary in applying the appropriate remedy in each 

 case, lest he hastens the patient's end. 



Of those symptoms the state of the pulse is the surest indication of the ap 

 proach of an inflammatory attack of the bowels, or any other viscus; and the 

 particular })art which is then sullering must be guthered from other circum- 

 stances, if he has long suffered colic without relief, doubtless inflammation 

 has taken place, and gangrene is likely to follow: this is the harbniger of 

 death. Adhesion of the gut sometimes baffles the best treatment for c-olic 



