316 DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. 



fit; on the contrary, its attack is both sudden and violent: 

 2dly, when the disease has set in, the expressions of pain 

 are stronger, and come on by fits and starts : 3dly, the purely 

 spasmodic affection is marked by remissions — intervals of 

 freedom from pain and of quietude; and yet all the while may 

 be observed that watchfulness about the patient which 

 clearly shows him to be in momentary expectation of another 

 paroxysm : 4thly, the state of the pulse is characteristic ; 

 while the paroxysm is on, it is (spasmodically?) contracted to 

 a thread, perhaps is quite imperceptible, and yet not ex- 

 ceeding 50 in a minute. Professor Coleman was wont to 

 attach much import to the circumstance of the horse rolling 

 and reclining upon his back : for my own part, though I 

 admit it to be in many cases a very prominent symptom, 

 yet it is one I have seen present when no spasms have been 

 noticeable. I once treated a case the subject of which lay 

 on his back for upwards of a quarter of an hour at a time ; 

 and yet, when we came to open him — for he died — we found 

 no spasms, but a tympanitic stomach, and an intense inflam- 

 mation of the jejunum and ileum. Might not spasms, 

 however, have existed during life? Some affirm there is 

 manifest heat of abdomen to be felt in enteritis, and lay 

 great stress upon the observable difference there is in the 

 manner of lying down : while the enteritic patient lies down 

 quietly and with a degree of caution, the colicky horse drops 

 down on a sudden, and flings himself about immediately 

 afterwards in violent commotions. 



The Cause of colic, very often, is a draught of cold 

 water, especially while the horse^s body is heated. Water 

 from certain mineral springs has been — apparently from its 

 impregnations — noted for having this effect. Sudden chill 

 of the skin is said to have produced gripes. A common 

 dose of physic will now and then occasion it. I have wit- 

 nessed the most violent spasms from both linseed and castor 

 oils. Vetches and other green-meat» will at times, especially 

 when very early or very late in the green-meat season, gripe ; 

 and so will new straw, and particularly wheaten ; and like- 

 wise peas I am informed : in fact, any irritating or acidulous 



