SURGICAL TREATMENT OF COLICS 57 



spection of the abdomen often aids materially in arriv- 

 ing at positive conclusions as to the seat of the trouble 

 and while deep abdominal pressure, depended upon so 

 much by doctors of human medicine, is of service only 

 in small animals, we have in large animals the advantage 

 of exploration per rectum which will yield a great wealth 

 of diagnostic information to anyone who will but prac- 

 tice diligently this method of searching for abnormalties. 

 To the unskilled hand all rectal explorations are alike, 

 but the experienced diagnostitian is capable of making 

 wonderfully accurate deductions from what his hand 

 palpates. 



In the earlier days of my career as a practitioner I 

 doubted the possibility of recognizing a twisted colon, 

 but after having read positive statements, to this effect, 

 from others, especially European writers, I became more 

 inquisitive and finally discovered that torsion of the 

 colon is not only easy to diagnose but the exact direction 

 of the twist even can be determined with precision. And 

 so it is with other conditions if we would but search for 

 them more often than we are in the habit of doing. 



The rectal and vaginal routes ofifer a wide field for ex- 

 plorations which are fruitful or useless in accordance to 

 the training that the hand that makes them has received. 

 The condition of the large colon, the small colon, the 

 cecum, the inguinal rings, the kidneys, the uterus and 

 of the ovaries can be determined by these manipulations. 

 Impactions, new growths, cysts, calculi, torsions, and ab- 

 scesses can be diagnosed in this manner. Why then wait 

 for the autopsy for a diagnosis with this wide open route 

 available during life? 



Then again we may take advantage of exploratory 



