416 DISEASES OF DIGESTION. 



food causes the powerful muscle (sphincter of the pylorus) which 

 surrounds it. Colonel F. Smith points out that it may also be 

 closed by the distended stomach pressing on it. The fact of 

 vomition being almost impossible to the horse, as a healthy 

 means of relieving the stomach ; he is rendered by this inability, 

 peculiarly liable to rupture that organ, an accident which is 

 not unfrequently the fatal termination of the disorder we are con- 

 sidering. 



The usual CAUSE of this complaint is the eating of food which 

 is liable to ferment in the stomach, especially when it has been 

 imperfectly masticated. Wind-sucking, and stricture, or blocking 

 up of the gut by a calculus, at its exit from the stomach, may also 

 give rise to it. 



The SYMPTOMS are those of very aggravated colic. There is 

 a certain amount of distension of the bowels, though not to the 

 same extent as in flatulent colic. The gaseous distension " is 

 plainly seen to be under the ribs, forward in fact; the animal 

 may now stand persistently with the elbows turned out to in- 

 crease the capacity of his chest; a gurgling sound is heard in the 

 oesophagus due to eructations of gas, followed, perhaps, by 

 vomiting ; saliva flows from the mouth ; the expression is one of 

 the greatest anxiety ; head symptoms may now appear " [Fred. 

 Smith). 



The TREATMENT should be the same as for flatulent colic. If 

 the intestine also is distended, it should be punctured (p. 677), so 

 as to favour the escape of gas from the stomach. 



Worm Colic. See p. 403. 



Inflammation of the Intestines {Enteritis). 



NATURE AND CAUSES. — Formerly, acute abdominal pain was 

 o-enerallv divided into colic and enteritis (inflammation of the 

 intestines) ; the usual distinction being that the pain in the former 

 was intermittent, and in that of the latter continuous and much 

 more severe. Williams states that enteritis is " the most rapidly 

 fatal disease to which the horse is liable." Its oecurrence was 

 ascribed to all sorts of different causes, such as chill, over-fatigue, 

 twists and folds of the intestines (p. 420), calculus, indigestion, 

 colic, worms, poisons, bacteria, constipation, etc. It is therefore 

 evident that the term enteritis has served to cover several different 

 disorders. Professor Penberthy states that : " I am inclined to 

 the view that by far the most common cause of enteritis in the 

 horse is the intestinal parasite." The continuously acute pain 

 and frequently fatal results of twists and folds of the intestines 



