78 THE COMMON COLICS OF THE HORSE 



There may, or may not, be colic pains with the over- 

 feeding, and yet the overcharging of the horse's intestines 

 may give rise to impaction, or stoppage — faecal accumula- 

 tion. To make myself plainer, we may have overfeeding 

 and yet no symptom of colic, until it has become really 

 a case of impaction or stoppage. That is really what 

 always occurs in the great majority of cases of so-called 

 impaction of the intestines, the only premonitory 

 symptoms (prior to constipation or stoppage) being dul- 

 ness. No exhibition of abdominal pain whatever. 



Then, again, take {h), or the colic brought on by 

 flatulence. Here, also, it is evident that it may arise 

 merely as a result either of overfeeding or of obstruction. 

 So that, to sum up, we may say : ' The {a) form of colic — 

 viz., that produced by overfeeding^ — may or may not be 

 accompanied by flatulence, and may or may not be pro- 

 ductive of obstruction, again with or without flatulence.' 

 That is what one really sees if notes are taken of a series 

 of cases, and I will endeavour to make my statement 

 still clearer directly. I do not wish to convey that there 

 is no such thing as a pure type of flatulent colic ; in fact. 

 Chapter XIV. is solely reserved for its consideration. I 

 merely wish to point out that in a great many cases the 

 flatulence is solely dependent on previous conditions that 

 are in themselves another and distinct variety of colic. 



Causes. — For these I must again ask the reader to 

 refer largely to Chapters IV. and V. He will find 

 there an enumeration of such general predisposing and 

 exciting causes of colic as will render my work in this 

 particular section very short. I would, however, ask 

 him to particularly remember what I have written re- 

 garding the anatomical reasons for expecting the horse 

 to be peculiarly liable to attacks of ' colic ' : the small 

 size of his stomach, the great length and complicated 



