310 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. ' • 



mation of those gases betrayed by low rumblings, and 

 other indications, which nearly ahv^ays occasion restiveness 

 and suffering, and often end in an attack of flatulent colic. 

 During this fermentation, carbonic acid gas is given off, 

 and sometimes with such rapidity that stricture of the 

 pylorus takes place. The stomach soon becomes most pain- 

 fully distended, from the constant accumulation of the gas, 

 which the extreme heat of the organs, meanwhile, continues 

 to greatly rarify. The owner soon finds that he has upon 

 his hands a case of 



COLIC IN THE STOMACH. 



The symptoms become more and notore aggravated, and, 

 unless relief can be given, there is imminent danger of rup- 

 ture of the stomach, which must kill the horse, of course. 

 Few persons suspect how frequently this sad event hap- 

 pens. 



A case which, several years ago, came within the author's 

 own observation, at the village of Petersburg, Lincoln 

 County, Tennessee, is so exactly in point that it merits 

 a narration in detail. A horse, about ten years old, and 

 in good condition of flesh, had been sick for several days, 

 refusing all food, and manifesting the usual symptoms of 

 intestinal disease. With the towns-people, including the 

 owner, this was a plain case of hots ; and when the writer 

 first saw him, a large man, weighing at least two hundred 

 pounds, was riding him about the streets, to cure him 

 by means of a charm which the fellow pretended to pos- 

 sess. An opinion being asked, it was promptly given, to 

 the effect that the stomach-pump afforded the only hope, 

 though the sufferer was probably too far gone for even this 

 to save him; and that, as no such instrument for the horse 

 could be found in the State, he must certainly die. About 

 two hours afterward, he suddenly fell dead. 



A bystander at once suggested that, if the horse were cut 

 open, his stomach would be found " perfectly riddled by the 

 bot." The idea was caught up by the entire crowd, of 



