GASTRIC TYMPANY 65 



horse with colic— what form of colic matters but little, 

 unless accompanied with violent purging. 



By all means adopt any other part you wish of the 

 treatment here laid down. Give aloes, even, if you are 

 so inclined, though that is useless and unnecessary. But 

 if you earnestly wish your list of successful cases to 

 increase, if you wish to give satisfaction to yourself and 

 to your client, give the widest possible berth to sedatives. 

 Leave them severely alone. My reasons for this advice 

 will be found more fully stated in the chapter on Intestinal 

 Impaction. 



Applying this advice to the disorder we are now dis- 

 cussing, we shall find the explanation simple enough, thus : 



We have a horse with his stomach enormously distended with 

 gas. In all probability its distension is materially assisting in 

 the closure of the duodenal trap (see Chapter II., Figs. 2 

 and 3) by the mere force of pressure. We have already shown 

 (Chapter IV., p. 26) that the horse is anatomically unable to 

 adequately relieve himself by way of the oesophagus. Ergo, the 

 only natural relief we can possibly hope for is the unlocking of 

 the duodenal trap by violent and energetic intestinal movements. 

 And these movements the practitioner proposes to altogether 

 restrict by administering a dose of opium. . . . Not only is 

 that unreasonable — it is criminal. Were our patient a human 

 being it would be considered, and rightly considered, slaughter. 



It is no mere fad of mine, this wholesale condemnation 

 of the use of sedatives in equine colic. It is the outcome 

 of many an unconscious experiment, the fruit of much 

 bitter experience, and the careful weighing together of 

 the data so obtained. I would ask all who seriously read 

 my little volume to give the most weighty and thought- 

 ful consideration to the paragraph immediately preceding 

 this. The matter it contains is small in bulk, but offers 

 much food for quiet reflection. 



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