THE HORSE IN SICKNESS AND DISEASE 339 



for a minute or two together, this posture appearing to 

 afford him temporary relief. 



On other occasions, after several ineffectual endeavours 

 to roll upon his back, he will suddenly rise again, and 

 having given himself a shake, as it were to get rid of the 

 straws or dust a.bout him, stand so quiet for a time that he 

 appears by his rolling and struggling to have got rid of his 

 pain. Soon again, however, he averts his head and regards 

 his flank, with his ears down and an expression in his eye 

 as much as to say, *' There lies my pain, and now I feel it 

 coming on again." Each successive fit or paroxysm turns 

 out commonly to be longer and more violent than the one 

 preceding. Early in the disorder, the remissions from 

 pain, or intervals of ease, are evident enough ; but as the 

 case proceeds, the paroxysms growing longer, the remissions 

 become shorter, and after a time altogether unobservable. 

 He heaves at the flanks, and breaks out into profuse per- 

 spiration: drops of sweat stand upon his brows and 

 eyelashes, and every hair in his coat becomes wet 

 through. 



The next change, should his torture continue unmiti- 

 gated, is one bordering on delirium. He grows heedless of 

 all around him ; his eyes turn wild and frantic ; his violent 

 motions render all approach to him perilous ; cold sweats 

 bedew his body ; tremors succeed ; he falls down maddened 

 and exhausted with pain, and in convulsions expires. The 

 pulse at the onset of the disease, and during the remissions 

 from pain, is but little altered ; but while the paroxysm 

 endures it grows frequent, and becomes contracted to a 

 thread, and indeed at times is so indistinct as hardly to be 

 felt at all. Under the extremity of suffering, its quickness, 

 and with that its strength and perceptibility, become 

 augmented. The belly is tense, sometimes perceptibly 

 swollen, and commonly very tender to pressure. The 

 bowels are constipated, though oftentimes dung will be 

 passed on the eve of the attack ; and in the height of his 

 pain the animal will void his urine. 



The cause of colic, ordinarily, is a draught of cold water, 

 especially while the horse's body is heated. Water from 

 certain mineral springs has been — apparently from its im- 

 pregnations — notorious for having this effect. Sudden chill 

 of the skin is said to have produced gripes. A common 

 dose of physic will now and then occasion it. Violent 



