COLICS OF THE HOBSR 



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12. More or less intense colics accompany the various alterations 

 of intestinal structure : catarrh, simple or croupous inflammation, 

 intoxications, ulcerations, etc. (see the articles on these affections). 



The etiology of false colics will be defined in connection with our 

 study of the respective diseases by which they are produced. 



Symptoms. All colics, no matter what the cause may be, are 

 marked at the beginning by phenomena expressing sudden pain — 

 most frequently without the slightest precursory sign. Harnessed 

 or mounted horses slow their gait, stagger behind, stop, are nervous, 

 scratch the ground, stamp, become restless, bend their legs half- 

 way, and lie doAvn if not prevented from so doing. If the animals 

 are in the stable we can see certain prodromes ; anxiety, depression, 

 keeping away from the manger ; then come agitation, stamp- 

 ings, complaints ; the animals abruptly carry one of the hind legs 

 against the abdomen, they look at their flanks, sway the tail, bend 

 the front legs, gather the hind legs under the body, arch the spinal 

 column, stretch the head, neck, and shoulders ; finally they lie down 

 slowly and carefully ; sometimes, after having bent their members in 

 order to take a decubital posture, they come back at once to the stand- 

 ing position ; in other cases they let themselves fall or even throw 

 themselves upon the ground. At times they perform unconscious 

 movements of extreme violence ; then, again, they remain as if over- 

 come by a deep somnolence; sometimes they remain for a long time 

 in a dorsal decubitus, the legs gathered toward the body. The 

 pains are not continuous ; we can observe remissions, during which 

 the animals stand up again, and are relatively quiet and look for 

 nourishment ; but this improvement is only temporary. 



If we examine the patients attentively we find an irregular dis- 

 tribution of temperature : the ears and extremities are cold ; often 

 we observe sweating spots upon the base of the ears, on the sides 

 of the neck and shoulder, on the ribs and flank; the sweat may 

 trickle to the ground ; in some cases the wet regions are hot, in 

 others cold. The pituitary gland is generally more or less colored, 

 but the injection of the mucous membrane is not constant. The 

 buccal cavity is dry, its mucous membrane is hot, injected, and 

 catarrhal, or pale and cold, as if it had been washed. The abdomen 

 is often enlarged, at other times empty and tucked up. The peri- 

 staltic movements are ordinarily w^eak or even completely sup- 

 pressed, and the bruit of the borborygmi has disappeared ; there 

 are cases, however, in which we perceive loud noises having a 



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