84 COLICS AND THEIR TREATMENT 



rect the displacement by manipulations have never been 

 successful. Some have told us that this may be done by 

 rolling the patient while the arm is held in the rectum. 

 At my hands this has always failed. Direct handling of 

 the organ through a flank laparotomy has likewise been 

 an unsuccessful procedure with me. I have always found 

 the colon too weak to stand the traction required to lift 

 it with its heavy contents. Latterly the procedure of Doc- 

 tor Hartwig of Wisconsin for torsion of the uterus of 

 cows has -occurred to me to be applicable to the colon 

 as well. Unfortunately, I have not met a case since 

 Hartwig announced his method publicly, but believe we 

 now have a method of untwisting a colon without much 

 trouble. The success, of course, will depend upon a 

 diagnosis being made before the organ is damaged by 

 disease. 



Hartwig has performed some operations for torsion 

 of the uterus in cows with splendid success, by making 

 an abdominal section in the right flank large enough to 

 admit both arms. In this I see the secret of success in 

 handling the twisted colon, for with both hands the organ 

 can be lifted without danger of tearing its walls. 



In conclusion, I venture to say that the possibilities 

 of successful instrumentation of the intestinal tract and 

 stomach of animals are by no means meager. Although 

 the operations are of a different order than those splen- 

 did invasions of the human surgeons, we have a broad 

 field, that we have thus far failed to cultivate as fruit- 

 fully as is possible, and from which may be selected a 

 wealth of operations that will cure colics heretofore re- 

 garded as fatal. 



