244 THE COMMON COLICS OF THE HORSE 



logie Interne ' — namely, that dealing with the intes^ 

 tines — we find on p. 311 the following note : 



' Palat says that tv/ist of the colon is to twist of the 

 small intestines as 4 to i. Schultze has recorded 69 

 cases of twists of the intestines in the direction of the 

 long axis of the organ ; 56 cases were of the colon, and 

 13 only of the small intestine. Of a total of 618 fatal 

 cases of colic recorded at the veterinary school of 

 Vienna, torsion of the large colon was noticed 166 

 times." 



'Jelkmann assures us that out of 192 horses dead 

 from colic 70 succumbed to this affection (torsion), and 

 he remarks that out of 23 autopsies on horses 10 revealed 

 displacements of the large colon.' 



The truth of the matter is this : Once the veterinarian 

 has recognized the condition, and has accustomed him- 

 self to demonstrate it at post-mortem (which demon- 

 stration in many cases is far from easy), he finds that 

 deaths from torsion of the large colon are far more 

 numerous than he has hitherto supposed. Incidentally, 

 this ready recognition of torsion eliminates from the 

 veterinarian's notebook many cases that he has in all 

 probability previously recorded as enteritis, and teaches 

 him the fact that enteritis as a condition per se is a thing 

 comparatively rare. 



My own notice was drawn to these matters some years 

 ago (in I goo and 1901, to be exact), while engaged on 

 the writing of the first edition of this little work. Until 

 then, in common with many others, I am afraid, I was 

 in the habit of casually dismissing as ' enteritis ' any 

 case which on post-mortem displayed a large area of 

 dark coloured, livid red, or purple gut. 



Directly this was seen, the decision of ' another case 

 of enteritis' was deemed sufficient. The existence o 



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