COLICS OF THE HOESE. 



Under the name of colics (euteralgia, intestinal pain) we desig- 

 nate a whole group of pathological conditions of the stomach and 

 intestine in which the peristaltic movements of these organs dimin- 

 ish in activity or cease to be performed, and which are expressed 

 by an ensemble of fairly uniform symptoms, but particularly by 

 more or less intense suffering. 



The expression ''colic'' does not indicate a unique and well- 

 defined affection ; it is applied, on the contrary, to a large number 

 of morbid processes, the clinical symptom of which is abdominal 

 pain ; it is a very comprehensive generic expression — similar to the 

 words heaves, hydropsia, icterus — which ought to be used only in 

 the domain of general pathology. Nevertheless, in order to avoid 

 almost insurmountable difficulties, and also errors which would be 

 of frequent occurrence if we wished to specify all the affections of 

 the stomach and intestine that may be observed, we continue there- 

 fore to use it in its broad and general acceptation. In practice it is 

 even applied to the painful affections of different viscera contained 

 in the abdominal cavity — kidney, bladder, liver, uterus, etc. (false 

 colics), and also to pains happening during the course of certain 

 general diseases — petechial fever, anthrax, etc. 



Although this expression is undoubtedly vague and is wanting 

 in the precision to be desired, it will nevertheless be used for a long 

 time to come in works upon special pathology, and that for several 

 reasons : first, it would not be without inconvenience to abandon 

 an old nomenclature which is universally accepted in ordinary 

 everyday language; and, further, it has the advantage of desig- 

 nating, in regard to the horse, an entire category of affections, not 

 observed so frequently in any other animal, and of which it is 

 sometimes extremely difficult, if not impossible, to make the differ- 

 ential diagnosis. In a large number of cases, indeed, the practi- 

 tioner is obliged to be satisfied with ascertaining the presence of 

 abdominal pain — with making the diagnosis of colic.'' 



History. All authors, from the earliest times, who have written 

 upon diseases of animals mention colic of the horse and advise dif- 

 ferent remedies to combat it. 



In the first century of our era Columella describes three forms 



(141) 



