288 THE COMMON COLICS OF THE HORSE 



brane lost its redness. In an hour the pain was entirely 

 gone.' 



Having given Holler's description of the operation, 

 I should like now to make a few observations of my 

 own, and to give very shortly my own experiences in 

 this matter of reduction. As I have already intimated, 

 I have met with success. I wish I could say I had met 

 with success in the same percentage of cases as have 

 other writers.! That, however, I am unable to do. 

 Often my efforts have been attended by failure. Some- 

 times this failure to effect reduction has been through a 

 mistaken diagnosis, as, for instance, when the twist has 

 been shown afterwards to have been at the head of the 

 colon, instead of at the suprasternal and diaphragmatic 

 flexures. When favourable results are obtained, how- 

 ever, they are so strikingly apparent to the. onlooker, and 

 so eminently gratifying to the surgeon, that one readily 

 forgets all the disappointment engendered by the cases 

 that are unsuccessful. Moreover, those cases that are 

 successful sufficiently point out the road for further 

 advance in the same direction, and give promise to the 

 operator of further success still as he gains confidence 

 and gathers experience. 



If I am to be quite frank, then I must admit to not 

 being able, even now, to reckon up the direction of the 

 torsion by manipulating the muscular bands of the bowel 

 and noting the way in which they lie. Myself I seem to 

 have derived more help from noting the tightly-stretched 

 rectal mesentery and its altered direction. This does 

 not mean that I think diagnosis by recognizing the 

 muscular bands is impossible, or that I wish in any way 



1 Jelkmann, for instance, appears to be able to effect reduction in 

 every case diagnosed. Vide p. 286, Dollar's translation of MoUer's 

 ' Veterinary Surgery.' 



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