146 DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



metallic timbre. As a rule, defecation is infrequent, and the most 

 violent repulsive efforts are followed by the discharge of a few dry- 

 masses, which are hard, brownish, and covered with mucus or with 

 a bloody coating ; sometimes, however, the excrements are soft, 

 diarrheic, and of acid odor ; gas frequently escapes per rectum ; 

 exceptionally some necrotic portions of the intestine may be expelled 

 with the fecal matters. 



On exploration of the rectum we may find it packed with dung 

 or entirely empty ; its mucous membrane is hot and tumefied; the 

 neighboring intestinal pockets are distended with gas or alimentary 

 matters, the bladder may be empty or filled with urine. There are 

 cases where the lumen of the rectum is increased; in other instances 

 it is so diminished that the finger can hardly penetrate it. In the 

 stallion, rectal exploration may enable us to detect a strangulated 

 inguinal hernia, and in all animals it permits us to recognize the 

 2:)resence of fecal balls or of an intestinal calculus. When the large 

 colon is much distended by gas the fleshy longitudinal bands of the 

 walls are like stretched and hard ropes to the touch. 



The animals brace themselves frequently in order to urinate ; 

 they hang the penis from its sheath and expel a few drops of clear 

 urine, or perhaps containing coloring matters (we must beware of 

 confounding this condition with hemoglobinuria); according to the 

 special case, the urine may be alkaline, neutral, or acid ; it may 

 contain albumin. The respiration is ordinarily painful; sometimes 

 there is dyspnœa. At the beginning the pulse is not modified ; 

 generally it is much accelerated, and we may count 50, 60, or 100 

 pulsations, or more, per minute; the pulse is small, the artery is 

 distended, the contractions of the heart are hard and tumultuous. 

 Immediately following the exacerbation of colic the temperature 

 is normal, or almost so, but its course is most variable ; it often 

 reaches a very high mark, whilst death will sometimes take place 

 without any serious febrile reaction having been noticed. 



The general sensibility is more or less diminished, and the habits 

 with which the animals may be affected are no longer noticed. 



In very intense colics we observe certain strange symptoms. 

 The patients bend the front legs and kneel down, the posterior 

 quarters remaining high ; they will lie in the position of the sphinx 

 or that of the dog. We notice nauseas, regurgitations, sometimes 

 vomitings ; then alimentary matters are rejected through the nos- 

 trils. The intensity of the pains may provoke rabiform attacks ; 



