74 COLICS AND THEIR TREATMENT 



THE SMALL INTESTINES 



The small intestines are subject to very grave condi- 

 tions which cause colics, and pain located in them is the 

 most violent of all abdominal pains, and the more an- 

 teriorally the trouble is located the more intense is the 

 pain. A diagnosis of colic in the small intestines is made 

 by the intense agony the patient suffers and continues 

 to suffer throughout. Whenever a horse throws itself 

 about recklessly and violently and is beyond control, 

 often falling to the floor with the full weight of the 

 body, time after time, without a moment of relief, ex- 

 cept, possibly, when it rolls into a dorsal position against 

 the wall, it is pretty safe to diagnose colic in the small 

 intestines, and the antero-posterior location may be judged 

 by the intensity of the pains. The duodenum and jejun- 

 um cause a more intense pain than the ileum, other 

 things being equal. 



The small intestines, especially of large animals, are 

 not affected with conditions that can be successfully man- 

 aged by surgery and they are only mentioned here to 

 carry out our plan of differentiating colicky pains. Our 

 loss, however, in this connection is not great and should 

 not be discouraging, because bowel surgery for intrinsic 

 conditions are pretty hopeless anywhere. Even the 

 human surgeon despairs at the necessity of cutting into 

 the intestinal tract, and if we are denied the benefit of 

 such intervention we are not denied much that is suc- 

 cessful. 



I know that surgical literature records enterotomies, 

 enterectomies, and approximations with a recklessness 

 that would lead a reader to believe that these are but 



