INFLAMMATION OF THE INTESTINES. 329 



the principal victims ; the external surface of the affected 

 parts is generally heightened in colour : sometimes the red- 

 ness is intense, at others it assumes a purple hue, as the 

 approach to gangrene is nearer or farther off; and occa- 

 sionally it is black or nearly dissolved, when fully esta- 

 blished : in some cases an internal hsemorrhage from the 

 inflamed vessels has filled the tube, particularly of the smaller 

 intestines, with blood, and all the diseased bowels will be 

 much increased in weight. 



The Prognosis. — If the costiveness be early removed ; if 

 the pulse become softer, more full, and less frequent ; if the 

 pain remit ; if the heat of the body and extremities appear 

 equal, it will terminate favourably. But if the costiveness 

 remain obstinate, or otherwise a voiding a black fcetid 

 matter appear ; or should the costiveness readily yield, but 

 violent purgations of watery, slimy offensive ejections ensue ; 

 if the pulse become more quick, and wavers also ; if the 

 extremities continue invariably cold, the danger is great. 

 And when added to these, if there be a peculiar earthy, 

 cadaverous smell from the mouth, with cold sweats, delirium, 

 and extreme debility, and particularly if the belly become 

 more and more tense, the termination will almost to a cer- 

 tainty be unfavourable ; and as soon as the pain ceases in 

 such a case, gangrene may be known to have commenced. 



The treatment in enteritis should be singularly prompt 

 and active, as inflammation of the intestines has run its 

 course and terminated fatally in eight hours. Bleeding 

 must be the first remedy adopted, but no quantity can be 

 stated to which amount blood may be taken. The vein 

 must remain open till the animal evinces that some effect 

 has been produced, and then pinned up. The bleeding may 

 be known to have a salutary effect by the pulse becoming 

 softer and fuller. As soon as the bleeding is over, proceed 

 to back-rake, to remove any hardened dung that may 

 obstruct the passage, which, if suffered to remain, would 

 infallibly aggravate the complaint, and which indeed in 

 many instances is the cause of it : the distressing strangury 

 that sometimes accompanies the red colic is also frequently 

 produced by the pressure of hardened excrement, as by 

 a renal participation in the inflammatory affection. It 

 is not the dropping a few balls of hardened dung, nor 



