142 



DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



of colic. Eumelus (third century) advises the treatment of colics 

 with nitrate of potash. Vegetius, Apsyrte, and Hierocles, in the 

 fourth and fifth centuries, gave a tolerably exact symptomatology 

 of colics. Vegetius considers the pains of the belly, those of the 

 ileum, of the colon, and of the bladder, as so many special colics. 



In the thirteenth century Jordanus Euffus makes a difference 

 between gaseous or windy colics and those produced by overloading 

 with alimentary matters. Three centuries later Vegetius Eenatus 

 and Joannes Ruellius give a brief description of colics. 



The eighteenth century witnessed the production of Ehrmann's,. 

 Sander's, and Weber's works, and the beginning of the nineteenth 

 those of Ribbe, Tennecker, and Brunswig. Among the modem 

 authors who have particularly written upon colics must be men- 

 tioned Ullrich, Legrain, Bollinger, and Friedberger. 



Frequency. Colics are the most frequent of all internal dis- 

 eases of the horse. Bollino^er's statistics have shown that amonœ 

 one hundred horses attacked by any internal diseases forty are 

 affected by colics (or 7549 colics in 18,984 patients). The same 

 author estimates that in Bavaria, upon every 400,000 animals 

 forming the equine population of that province, 40,000 are attacked 

 by colics every year. 



The average mortality, according to Bollinger, is 13 per cent, 

 (in 12,857 cases, 1625 fatal cases). In gathering 26,253 cases of 

 colics, most of them mentioned in the different clinical reports, we 

 have found 2832 fatal cases — that is to say, a mortality of 10.7 per 

 cent., a proportion differing very little from that indicated by 

 Bollinger; these findings, taken together, result in an average 

 mortality of 12 per cent. 



According to Bollinger, the mortality caused by colics would 

 represent 40 per cent, of the general death-rate. 



In the various German veterinary schools the mortality is stated 

 thus : 





Horses attacked. 



Died. 



Per cent. 



Vienna (25 years ) 



. 16,097 



1643 



10.2 



Hanover (10 years) 



1200 



134 



11.1 



Munich (10 years) 



1606 



201 



12.5 



Dresden (6 years) 



636 



86 



13.6 



Stuttgart (19 years) 



1088 



184 



17.0 



Berlin (10 years) 



1815 



354 



19.0 



In the Prussian army the average mortality for the years 1880 

 to 1886 was 11 J per cent. 



