ABDOMINAL CALCULI. 161 



hibiting some symptoms which are not natural to 

 inflammation of the bowels ; or by its not exhibiting 

 some symptoms which are characteristic of that dis- 

 ease ; to which both strangulation and introsusception, 

 in their general features, bear so marked a likeness, 

 that without close observation of the symptoms they 

 cannot be distinguished. 



ABDOMINAL CALCULI. 



In some horses, and particularly in those that work 

 in dusty mills, calculus is by no means unfrequent. 

 A small portion of stone, or of iron is swallowed, and 

 becomes lodged in some part of the intestinal canal ; 

 particles of earthy matter gradually surround it, 

 being bound together by the mucous secretion of the 

 part; until the stone attains almost incredible size, 

 having, in extraordinary instances, weighed twenty- 

 five pounds. These have been found after death, up 

 to which period the horse had seemed to enjoy perfect 

 health ; at times he might have been off his feed, or 

 have had colicky pains; or he has sometimes been 

 almost incapable of rapid action. 



The last attack, however, is invariably protracted ; 

 and the symptoms are more violent than is usual in 

 other abdominal diseases. The duration of the disease 

 and the acuteness of the suffering— especially in the 

 early stage, when the horse dashes about and injures 

 himself— together with the fact of his having been, 

 from time to time, affected with colic ; alone enables 

 us to guess that calculus is present. The strongest 

 purgatives administered in the largest doses generally 



