Intestinal Invagination in Ruminants and Swine. 355 



Invaginations situated more anteriorly and which can be cor- 

 rectly diagnosed by rectal exploration or otherwise, will some- 

 times warrant laparotomy, especially those of the caecum into the 

 colon, where adhesion of the peritoneal surfaces is less common 

 or longer delayed. The patient should be given chloroform or 

 ether, the abdominal walls should be washed and treated with 

 antiseptics, and the incision made back of the sternum and to one 

 side of the median line, and large enough to admit the exploring 

 hand. It has also been suggested to introduce the hand through 

 the inguinal ring, or behind the posterior border of the internal 

 oblique»muscle. 



INTESTINAL INVAGINATION IN RUMINANTS AND 



SWINE. 



Double colon cannot be invaginated, floating small intestine, caecum and 

 floating colon can. Causes. Lesions. Symptoms : Acute, violent, persist- 

 ent colic, palpation of right flank causes gurgling, rectal exploration, pros- 

 tration, collapse. Duration one to five weeks. Treatment : Laxative, ene- 

 mata, injections of sodium bicarbonate and tartaric acid, laparotomy. 



In these animals the double colon is rolled around itself between 

 the folds of the great mesentery the free border of which sup- 

 ports the small intestine. The arrangement is as if a piece of 

 rubber tubing were first doubled upon itself, and the end of the 

 loop were then turned inward and the remainder wound round it 

 as a centre. If this were then sewed between two pieces of cloth, 

 the stitches passing between the different windings of the tube at 

 all points, we would have an arrangement fairly representing that 

 of the double colon of ruminants, and, for our present purpose, of 

 swine as well. It must be evident that no portion of a tube 

 arranged in this way can slide into another. It would also appear 

 that the small intestine cannot become invaginated to any extent 

 into another portion or into the csecum without extreme stretching 

 or laceration of the small portion of mesentery left between it and 

 the coils of the double colon above. The anatomical arrange- 

 ment is therefore opposed to the formation of invaginations in a 

 way that is not the case in the horse. 



