72 THE COMMON COLICS OF THE HORSE 



It is not likely to be adopted by the average prac- 

 titioner as a principal line in his treatment, for these 

 reasons : It is rather cumbersome, adds to his impedi- 

 menta, and can only be required in quite a small 

 percentage of the cases of ' colic ' he is called upon to 

 attend. Whatever treatment the practitioner has decided 

 to adopt, let him carefully remember one detail of the 

 utmost importance. When he has with certainty 

 diagnosed tympany of the stomach, it is his duty to 

 emphatically warn the owner and attendants of the 

 danger the horse runs if allowed to roll. It is extremely 

 likely to bring about the lesion I describe in my next 

 chapter, rupture of the stomach. 



excellent results in the hands of several veterinarians who have used 

 one. The single tubes are practically useless, as they block up with 

 food ; and a man using one throws it away in disgust. With this 

 you do not experience this trouble.' 



This tube here illustrated is lo feet in length, is double for 7 feet, 

 and has the balance in separate tubes. 



The double part has the tube cemented together, so as to make 

 the outside circumference small enough to be readily passed through 

 the oesophagus into the stomach. The large opening is ^ inch 

 across, and is the outlet from the stomach through which the 

 food and the gases will return. The smaller opening is | inch 

 in diameter, through which water is passed into the stomach. This 

 latter procedure is presumably to aid the egress of the food through 

 the larger tube. 



Dr. T. B. Rogers, of Woodbury, New Jersey, says : ' With regard 

 to the passing of the stomach-tube, this is now a standard procedure 

 with our more scientific practitioners, and if you wet the tube and 

 roll it in powdered, slippery elm-bark, instead of greasing it, pass it 

 slowly, waiting for the efforts at deglutition its passage excites, the 

 operation presents no difficulty.' 



It would seem from this that the oesophagus-tube, which with 

 English practitioners has remained in the experimental stage, has 

 in America been improved on to the extent of being rendered 

 a useful agent in affording relief in both gastric tympany and 

 gastric engorgement. 



