140 THE COMMON COLICS OF THE HORSE 



never occurs. What does happen, however, is so mis- 

 leading to the casual observer and of such importance to 

 the careful inquirer as to merit special attention. The 

 patient, certainly for some few minutes, will stand, to 

 outward appearances, quiet. If the judgment is hurried, 

 this will be confused with the usual period of ease in 

 ordinary colic. The case will be dismissed as ' nothing 

 dangerous.' The pulse tells a different tale. It is still 

 maintaining a troubled, fluttering beat of 70 to 80, and is 

 evidence enough of serious conditions within. The con- 

 junctiva is reddened, though not to such a degree as the 

 continuous pains would at first appear to point to, while 

 the perspirations mentioned above do not incline to 

 become cold or clammy. 



If not relieved, towards the end of the first twelve 

 hours the animal shows more or less tendency to stand 

 in a stretched-out condition, as though attempting to 

 urinate. The marked frequency with which this stretch- 

 ing occurs in this form of colic is a warrant sufficient for 

 pointing it out as a special symptom. 



Later, the periods of apparent ease become fewer and 

 farther between, and the animal is in more or less 

 constant pain. Another symptom, frequent to a point 

 approaching the diagnostic, is violent straining, which is 

 persisted in with such force as to move the onlookers to 

 fear for the patient's safety.* During the straining the 

 patient emits a series of painful groans, and the mucous 

 lining of the rectum is often everted to the extent of 

 several inches. If a mare, and especially if she be with 

 foal, the vulva is in like manner everted, and the pains 

 sometimes of such a severity as to suggest the act of 

 foaling. 



The hand inserted in the rectum is met by a violent 

 expulsive action of the bowel, accompanied by straining 



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