398 OPERATIONS ON THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



If in the stable, the animal becomes restless, paws with his 

 fore feet, gazes earnestly toward his flanks, and flexes his legs, 

 as if to He down, and perhaps accomplishes that movement, but 

 only to resume the standing position. The skin is moist, the per- 

 spiration appearing on the face, around the ears, behind the 

 shoulders and in the groins. If he is in harness, his action is 

 changed, he shortens his steps, stops pulling, wants to stand stiU, 

 and becomes covered with abundant perspiration running over 

 bii-n and dripping from his belly. These first symptoms excite 

 suspicion as to the real cause of the trouble, but they soon assume 

 a character which changes the suspicion into certainty. They rap- 

 idly assume greater severity, increasing in the ratio of the suffer- 

 ings of the animal, which then has no more rest or intermission, 

 and gives evidence of the most intense abdominal pain. He paws 

 and stamps upon the floor more and more violently, sometimes 

 kicking his abdomen; gazes anxiously toward his flanks; Hes 

 carefully down and rolls to and fro on his back, sometimes 

 keeping the dorsal position for a few moments, as if he could 

 only thus find relief; then suddenly rises to his feet and repeats 

 the movements, which give evidence of the torture he suffers, but 

 more forcibly and rapidly than before. The expression of his 

 face soon becomes characteristic. The lips are contracted, the 

 nostrils are retracted and dilated, and the widely opened eyes ajs- 

 pear unnaturally large and prominent, rendering their agonized 

 expression more and more striking. The respiration becomes ac- 

 celerated and the pulse more rapid; the perspiration streams 

 more copiously from his body and the poor animal groans under 

 the weight of his trouble. 



After a lapse of some hours, the time arrives for the occurrence 

 of strangulation, which may be pronounced the crisis or fatal 

 event of inguinal hernia. It is characterized by a peculiar mo- 

 tion of the head, which is throvm up and down repeatedly (and 

 which the French have designated by the word " encens^^) This 

 motion, which is sometimes habitual with horses while in harness, 

 has a pecuhar meaning when it becomes the expression of the 

 colic of hernia. It is then performed slowly, the head being ele- 

 vated gradually and extended upon the neck, to be suddenly 

 dropped again as if from weakness, to be again raised and 

 dropped during the few and brief intervals of remission of the 

 pains, while the animal possesses the ability to keep on his feet. 



