'COLIC,* Its DEFiNITION i 



Owing to circumstances which I shall endeavour to 

 explain in a future chapter, one day's illness in the horse 

 is practically of the same length as a week's suffering 

 from the same ailment in man. The veterinarian is com- 

 pelled to crowd into one day a diagnosis and treatment 

 that the human medico may methodically and easily 

 arrive at by a week's careful study of the symptomatology 

 and history furnished by his patient. 



This apparent digression is really a lengthening of the 

 definition ; it is inserted for this reason. I desire to 

 indicate as forcibly as lies within me one fact — human 

 and equine colic in no material way bear likeness one 

 to the other. My excuse for trespassing so far into the 

 domain of human medicine in connection with this point 

 is this : I have so frequently seen veterinarians attempt- 

 ing to base their treatment on knowledge derived from 

 medical literature referring to man. I feel sure that 

 nothing could lead them further from the truth. 



' Colic,' so long as the horse exists, will always have a 

 terrible significance for the practitioner of veterinary 

 medicine. It still continues, in many of its aspects, to 

 bafile the most careful and painstaking observer. It still 

 claims annually many thousands of victims. Anthrax, 

 tuberculosis, and other dire disorders still persist in 

 carrying off their spoils, but it is doubtful to my 

 mind whether any other ailment in the whole cate- 

 gory of veterinary diseases is accountable for more loss, 

 more anxiety, and more self-scourging than is ' colic' 



