BPASMS.] 



THE HORSE, AND 



[colic, oe gripes. 



to the least deserving part of it. The farrier 

 says, " It was my change that restored the 

 horse;" leaving rest and Br. Green com- 

 pletely out of the question. In India there is 

 a disease called Jcumree, wliich always ends 

 in complete paralysis of the hind quarters. 

 Most of the horses used in that country are 

 stallions ; and these are the subjects that be- 

 come aftected. AYe never saw it in a mare or 

 gelding, with the exception, that the horse, on 

 the commencement of the attack, had gone 

 through the operation of castration, which is 

 imagined to be a remedy for it ; but we never 

 found one cured by this, or any other remedy ; 

 for the horse will continue getting worse and 

 worse, until he is unable to rise at all, and is 

 consequently destroyed. 



SPASMS. 

 Spasm is an irritability of the muscular fibre, 

 excited by an action of the nervous system, 

 producing various affections, known under the 

 general name of spasm, but subdivided ac- 

 cording to the part aftected with this excite- 

 ment. When universal, it forms tetanus ; when 

 confined to the bowels, it forms gripes; and 

 when it attacks the neck of the bladder, ob- 

 struction to the urine follows. Inflammation 

 of the sensorium, or of the nerves, or of the in- 

 vesting membranes of these organs, can produce 

 this excitement. Thus, in phrenites, the horse 

 is excited to exertions much beyond his usual 

 powers. Irritation occasioned by foreign sub- 

 stances can also produce it; perhaps, by ex- 

 citing an immediate inflammation, although the 

 instantaneous spasm which follows mechanical 

 pressure and irritation, both in the sensorium 

 and the nerves, can scarcely be accounted for 

 thus. 



In medical treatment, sedatives act either 

 by allaying the nervous excitement, or relaxing 

 the part aftected with spasm ; such as opium, 

 tobacco, &c.: antispasmodics, also, by rousing 

 the heart and arteries to a new action ; as gin 

 and pepper, spirit of turpentine, rendering the 

 part above or below the disposition to be ex- 

 cited. In very violent cases of spasmodic af- 

 fections, copious bleeding, combined witli solu- 

 tions of aloes and opium, are powerful anti- 

 spasmodics. In the spasmodic state of the neck 

 of the bladder, nauseating medicines are found 

 to be the best antispasmodics ; such as digitalis, 

 282 



or white hellebore. The remedies which act by 

 altering tlie susceptibility of the parts, are prin- 

 cipally bleeding, purging, or clysters, and other 

 evacuants, which diminish the excess of power; 

 and are, therefore, extremely proper in plethoric 

 subjects, or wlien the spasm is attended with 

 great vascularity. AVhen, on the contrary, the 

 spasm attacks a subject already in a debili- 

 tated state, recourse must be had to the stimu- 

 lant remedies, to bring the part to a state to 

 resist the impressions. (See List of Medicines^. 



SPASMODIC COLIC, OR GRIPES. ' 



Spasmodic colic is, amongst agriculturists, 

 known as fret gripes, &c. Although it is 

 termed flatulent, or windy colic, wind is not 

 so predominant a symptom as it is in the 

 human subject. The small intestines seem 

 more the situation of spasmodic colic than 

 any other part of the horse ; but there are 

 instances where the large intestines have be- 

 come aff'ected; and when it proceeds so far 

 back as the rectum, the bladder then also par- 

 ticipates in the convulsion, and frequent ejec- 

 tions of urine occur. In other instances the 

 neck of the bladder suflers, and suppression of 

 urine then becomes remarkable ; but these 

 are only in extreme cases. Colic is dependent 

 on a spasm of the muscular structure of the 

 intestines. We have evident proof of this 

 from the appearances which present them- 

 selves after death, where cases have proved 

 fatal ; when the small intestines, more espe- 

 cially, will be found puckered and drawn toge- 

 ther ; or some portions will afford marks of 

 violent contractions, as though they were tied 

 round with a cord. Occasionally we find an 

 interception, or one portion of intestine in- 

 vagiuated within the other ; in which case in- 

 flammation is usually brought on by it. 



Spasmodic colic, however, generally exists 

 without inflammation, though it frequeutly 

 terminates in it, when suffered to have a long 

 continuance, from there being no speedy 

 remedy at hand, or no surgeon living in the 

 neighbourhood to administer proper relief. 

 Eubbing the belly with a hard stick, &c., 

 should, on such occasions, on no pretence 

 whatever, be done. Powerful purgatives to 

 overcome the costiveness, usually present, fre- 

 quently have this tendency ; but a still more 

 frequent cause is the invagination of one por- 



