102 THE COMMON COLICS OF THE HORSE 



the apparently excessive doses have proved in any way 

 harmful. On the contrary, after the experience of a long 

 array of cases, I am able to declare the exact opposite to 

 be the fact, and am thereby led to insist so strongly on 

 the correctness of the treatment. In the whole of my 

 practice for certainly the last five or six years I have 

 had no occasion save one to give aloes. That occasion 

 is included in the list of cases at the end of this chapter, 

 and I may say that, even then, I had serious cause to 

 regret its administration. This section on posology is 

 the one I would ask the reader to ponder over most. If 

 my description of the disorder is correct, there can be no 

 doubt that the treatment is right in every detail. 



To further set at rest the mind of those who think the 

 doses of ammonium carbonate beyond all reasonable 

 limit, I may state here that one animal, in addition to 

 the usual doses of nux vomica and ol. tereb., received 

 considerably over i pound of that drug — i pound in 

 2-ounce doses spread over a period of thirty hours. I 

 need hardly say it was an extreme case. It is the 

 occurrence of cases hke that which has proved to me the 

 value of the treatment — cases that, under the old treat- 

 ment of aloes and sedatives, invariably used to die. 

 Only a few trials will convince any unbiassed mind of 

 the splendidly beneficial action of a solely stimulative 

 treatment. 



Although very much more might be written on this 

 subject, I feel that already this chapter is lengthy enough. 

 My main object has been to point out what I believe to 

 be the dangerous though common practice of administer- 

 ing aloes or sedatives to the horse suffering from 

 intestinal obstruction in its subacute form. One can 

 always see more, feel more, and know more than one can 

 write. It is not easy to gather up, classify, and tabulate 



