296 THE COMMON COLICS OF THE HORSE 



even limited enteritis so far as could be judged from the 

 appearance of the bowel walls. The flexion revealed, 

 however, was somewhat remarkable. The stomach, 

 filled and distended to its utmost with dry ingesta, was 

 pressing heavily against the suprasternal and diaphrag- 

 matic flexures of the colon. The result of this was that 

 not only were the said flexures flattened out and ob- 

 literated, but that what were originally the convex faces 

 of the bowel in this position had now become the con- 

 cave. 



In commenting on pressure as a cause Cadeac says : 



' The suprasternal and diaphragmatic flexures of the 

 double colon are sometimes straightened out and directed 

 towards the diaphragm, where they become engaged 

 between the anterior face of the stomach and the posterior 

 face of the liver and the diaphragm. The flexures are 

 then squeezed and flattened by the hard and distended 

 stomach, which organ they embrace after the manner of 

 a cravat.'' 



In such cases as these, associated with the pressure, is 

 the further cause of local paresis. The bowel wall, that 

 portion of it pressed into an abnormal position and held 

 here by the over-distended stomach, must, as the case 

 lingers on, to a large extent lose its normal nerve tone. 

 That, in its turn, means obstruction at the affected spot. 

 And then, deadened by the continued pressure, and after- 

 wards by the paralyzing toxins elaborated by the im- 

 prisoned ingesta, the bowel eventually comes to lose 

 entirely that action of alternate contraction and expansion 

 which we know as peristalsis, and which is so necessary 

 to the maintenance of its vital functions. In other words, 

 the end result is a fatal stasis of the ingesta. 



The other cause of flexion to which I have referred is 

 ' Cadeac, ' Pathologie Interne,' vol, ii., p. 308, 



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